Method, computer program, and algorithm for computing network service value pricing based on communication service experiences delivered to consumers and merchants over a smart multi-services (SMS) communication network

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing multi-services within a communication network according to various exemplary embodiments can include storing, in a database of a computer, user-defined sets of rules and instructions for providing multi-services to end user devices connected to a communication network comprising a Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW) network having policy management capabilities. The system and method can receive, at one or more processors, the user-defined sets of rules and instructions from a plurality of end users via a plurality of end user devices. The system and method can configure a virtual network for each end user within the communication network using the policy management capabilities based on the user-defined sets of rules and instructions provided by each end user. The user-defined sets of rules and instructions define provisioning and delivery of resources and services provided by the communication network to the end user.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to devices and methods of a SmartMulti-Services (SMS) Communication Network, which is based onservice-centric policy management techniques that enable each end userto configure his or her own virtual network operating environment withinthe SMS network. The end user establishes his or her virtual network todefine and set the parameters for the services and resources that theSMS network will provide to the end user and the manner in which theyare provided by the network to the end user. As a user-defined,-managed, and -controlled network, the SMS communications networksoffers various features, for example, such as the capability to supportany type of service session using broadband transactions, a Quality ofExperience (QoE) service delivery approach, a service pricing model, aservice provisioning paradigm, a Latency Quality Index (LQI) technique,a shared resources scheme, dynamic allocation of network resources,Mobile Cloud Computing, alias e-commerce transactions, and securedchannel communications. The parameters of each of these features can beinitially set or activated by the end user, dynamically monitored by theSMS communications network and made available to the end user, who canselectively modify one or more of these features in real-time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For decades, the communication and information network architecturemodel 100 for communication and information service delivery has beenfocused on a design approach that emphasized the utilization of the besttransmission media for a particular network service type implementationsuch as voice, data, or broadcast video. The most noted of these is thePublic Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) 112, as shown in FIG. 1, whichprimarily utilizes copper wires for the final segment of the networkdesign, commonly referred to as the local loop. In the early stages ofthe local loop design, one of the primary goals was to optimize thisfinal segment of the network design for the delivery of voice with thebest Quality of Service (QoS) for the voice service connection. For manyyears, this PSTN network design concentrated mainly on voice servicesand features where the pricing algorithms were based on emphasizing theQoS for the delivery of voice services and the number of features thatcould be delivered to the customers as a part of the voice serviceoffering.

This voice communication service delivery and pricing model continuedfor many years until customers began to demand data and informationservices. The initial attempt for the delivery of data and otherinformational based services was to share the same PSTN network tomodulate data over the same copper wires. This configuration met aninitial need of allowing the end user to receive voice and/or low speeddata over the same pair of copper wires, but failed short in the area ofQoS for data which was measured as a function of the speed of the datatransmission. In contrast, the QoS for voice services, described above,was measured as a function of the clarity of the voice transmission anddata was measured as the speed of transmission. This differentiation invoice and data QoS service delivery lead to different pricing algorithmsand the bifurcation of voice networks and informational based datanetworks. Over time, this bifurcation of voice and informational baseddata networks lead to the development of a new type of data network,known as the Internet 117, as shown in FIG. 1. While the Internet 117addressed the delivery of informational based data services networking,the issue of the QoS for speed of the data transmission still remained.Consequently, the data services pricing model for the Internet wasestablished based on the Internet's speed of transmission access.

With the progression of technology and data network designs, voice anddata networks have continued to evolve over time as independent networksas shown in FIG. 1. Recently, the emergence of the demand for clarity ofvideo motion pictures has resulted in the development of yet anotherwired network design, commonly referred to as the broadcast cablenetwork 107. The pricing algorithm for the broadcast cable networkprimarily focuses on the clarity of video transmission and the amountand type of video content delivered.

Over the years, many attempts have been made to bundle the servicesprovided by the three different networks (PSTN 112, the Internet 117,and broadcast cable networks 107) from a pricing perspective, butchallenges remain as to how to integrate these networks from a QoSperspective. This network integration issue from a QoS perspectivebecomes even more complex with the emergence of mobility networks, suchas cellular and Wi-Fi based wireless network, where the QoS is definedas a function of the degree of mobility as well as the clarity of voiceand video, including the speed of data transmission. Among the mobilitynetworks, cellular 102, as shown in FIG. 1, has emerged as the mostprevalent, where the pricing algorithm is a function of voice quality,voice feature, data speed, data feature, video quality, video feature,and the degree of mobility.

Another limitation, which developed due to the differences in thenetwork designs, is that multiple network identifications must beestablished to identify the same end-user as a different user withineach of these different network types from the perspective of the enduser with respect to, for example, a PSTN dial number, a cellular phonedial number, a cable customer billing number, an Internet customerbilling number, and the like. These different approaches to identifyingthe same customer has supported and sustained the different pricingmodels for the various types of services provided to the same customerby these different network types. This bifurcation of the QoS for thevarious network types of services and the multiple networkidentifications has resulted in certain restrictions from theperspective of the end user as well as how the end user views or usesthese services in a converged network solution such as a common methodof monitoring network resource utilization for voice services, videoservices, data services and/or mobility services or a common method ofmonitoring network resource utilization for the combination of theseservices for a particular user on the network, as well as a simple wayto bundle these services from a pricing perspective.

By way of example, FIG. 1 illustrates an existing communication andinformation network architecture model and algorithms for servicedelivery and pricing. In general, FIG. 1 provides an example of theexisting bifurcated QOS and service type identification schemes for acellular network 102, a cable broadcast network 107, a PSTN 112, and theInternet 117. For example, to establish a voice or data communicationconnection between two cellular phone device users, a cellular phone 101can be used to initiate a cellular call within a cellular network 102 toanother cellular phone 104. However, initially to access cellularnetwork 102, the user must subscribe to cellular network 102 where theuser is assigned a distinct cellular phone number that is stored withincellular network subscriber database 103 which uniquely identifies anddistinguishes a particular user from all other users within cellularnetwork 102.

If the user of cellular phone 101 wishes to call a PSTN phone 111 and115 on the PSTN network 112 (also known as, Voice Services Network), thesame assigned cellular phone number is used. To conduct the call,cellular network 102 must establish a connection to PSTN network 112 andrequest a look-up of the PSTN subscriber's phone number in the PSTNnetwork subscriber database 114 to determine how to connect cellularphone 101 to PSTN phone 111 or 115. A look up request must be performedeven if the cellular subscriber and the PSTN subscriber are the samesubscriber, because the subscriber is identified in both the cellularnetwork scriber database 103 and the PSTN network subscriber database114 as two different subscribers.

In addition, the connection must also be routed through a commonwireline access network 106 or 113 (also known as, a local cable, theInternet, or a PSTN service network). This common wireline accessnetwork 106 or 113 can be a single network in the case of common cableaccess for access to PSTN phone 111 or 115, television 105 or 110, orpersonal computer 116 or 118. In some instances, the connection isrouted through multiple common wireline access networks. Regardless ifrouted through a single or multiple networks, this common wirelineaccess network 106 or 113 adds increased complexity to the connectionsbetween the individual networks for completing calls or connections. Onthe other hand, the connection between two end devices for voicecalling, Internet access, and access to broadcast television is managedby the primary networks such as the Cellular Network, 102, the CableBroadcast Network, 107, the PSTN Network, 112, and the Internet 117, notthe local common wireline access network 106 or 113.

In the above example of the cellular phone call to a PSTN phone, thisprocess leads to two major differences from the consumer's perspective.The first difference is that the QoS requirement for the cellularnetwork segment of a single call is different than the QoS for the PSTNnetwork segment of the call. The second difference is that the pricingalgorithms for this single call are different within both the cellularnetwork and the PSTN network. Given that, at a minimum, two differentnetworks are required to complete a single call or connection. Thenetwork interfacing and exchange of subscriber information requiredbetween the two networks to establish the single call or connectionbetween the two phones increases the overall cost, even if thesubscriber is the same subscriber for both phones and devices.Sometimes, more than two networks are required to complete the same callbecause of the common wireline access network, which further increasesthe overall cost of the call, because of the complexity of theinterfaces and the interaction between these networks that are requiredto complete a call.

Another example is when a subscriber of cable broadcast network 107wishes to view television content from television 105 or 110, thesubscriber must be recognized within the cable broadcast networksubscriber database 108. The subscriber must also be an authorizedsubscriber of the cable broadcast network video content 109 to receiveand view cable content on television 105 or 110. However, if the samesubscriber wishes to watch television on cellular phone 101 or 104 orwatch television on personal computer 116 or 118, the networklimitations between the cellular network 102, and/or the Internet 117(also known as, Data or Informational Services Network without QoS) andthe cable broadcast network 107 will not permit this connection to takeplace without special custom engineering by the customer on the cellularphone and placing special communication equipment at the customer's homethat connects to the cable network and then also connects to theInternet at the customer's home by the customer, which still may not besupported by the cable broadcast network. Furthermore, the fact that thesame subscriber is identified differently in the cellular networkdatabase 103, the cable broadcast database 108, and the InternetDatabase 119 also prevents these network connections from workingseamlessly for the customer.

Each of these networks tracks the usage and access of the samesubscriber in a different manner and, as a result, restricts access tocertain new services that cross the boundary of these networks such as acable service delivery over the Cellular Network or cable servicedelivery over the Internet Data Network from a QoS perspective. Theaccess and QoS restriction of each network makes it impossible toestablish and manage a common QoS for a single subscriber in aconsistent manner. This approach to service access also limits thenetwork service providers from charging for certain services based upondifferent QoS schemes, because the network service cannot control theQoS for services that cross network boundaries between cellular networks103, cable broadcast network 107, PSTN networks 112, and the Internet117.

It may be desirable to offer services in a converged network mannerwithin a converged Smart Multi-Services (SMS) communication network thatemploys a single identification scheme to uniquely identify a collectionof services such as voice, video, multimedia, data, and wireless thatare assigned to a single user. It may also be desirable to employ aservice identity concept such as Global Service Identities (GSIs), whichcan uniquely identify each user within a converged SMS communicationnetwork on a local or global basis and as such enable the end-user tobenefit from utilizing all of their services in ways that best match theneeds of each individual user.

Due to the complexity of the legacy network designs and their use ofmultiple networks with their equally complex pricing algorithms andcompeting QoS service delivery requirements, it may be desirable toreconsider these legacy network designs and employ a converged SMScommunication network such as a hybrid fiber-wireless network to addressthe competing QoS requirements of these legacy networks with a standardapproach to identify each user for all communication, servicestransaction types. It may also be desirable to provide a pricingparadigm that is based on the Quality of Experience (QoE) that a enduser receives while on the network “QoE Service Level”, which can bedefined as a function of all the network resource that are utilized bythe end user during a communication and/or information session that isdelivered by a converged SMS communication network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention may satisfy one or more of the above-mentioneddesirable features. Other features and/or aspects may become apparentfrom the description which follows.

A system and method for providing multi-services within a communicationnetwork according to various exemplary embodiments can include storing,in a database of a computer, user-defined sets of rules and instructionsfor providing multi-services to end user devices connected to acommunication network including a Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW) networkhaving policy management capabilities. The system and method canreceive, at one or more processors, the user-defined sets of rules andinstructions from a plurality of end users via a plurality of end userdevices. The system and method can configure a virtual network for eachend user within the communication network using the policy managementcapabilities based on the user-defined sets of rules and instructionsprovided by each end user. The user-defined sets of rules andinstructions define provisioning and delivery of resources and servicesprovided by the communication network to the end user.

A system and method for providing services and resources using a SmartMulti-Services (SMS) communication network, according to variousexemplary embodiments, can include receiving at, one or more processors,user-defined sets of rules and instructions from a plurality of endusers via a plurality of end user devices, and storing user-defined setsof rules and instructions to cause at least one processor of the one ormore processors to: configure a virtual network for each end user withinthe communication network using policy management capabilities based onthe user-defined sets of rules and instructions provided by each enduser. The user-defined sets of rules and instructions defineprovisioning and delivery of resources and services provided by thecommunication network to the end user. The system and method can conductat least one communication session selected from a voice, a video, adata, or a multimedia transmission. The system and method can enable anend user of the plurality of end users to define the rules andinstructions to establish at least one service level for delivering theservices and resources to the end user. The service level for deliveringthe services and resources to the end user can be selected from aplurality of Quality of Experience (QoE) service levels. Each QoEservice level corresponds to one or more dimensions that control aperception of at least one service that the end user experiences whenreceiving the service. The policy management capabilities enables theend user to test features and capabilities of the communication networkassociated with each QoE service level for selecting a fee to pay forthe service based on the perception of the service to the end user. Thesystem and method can also include calculating a Latency Quality Index(LQI) rating for measuring a performance level of the communicationnetwork to determine the QoE service level that the end user experienceswhen engaged in the communication session. The system and method canexecute a service price reduction program such that an owner of the HFWnetwork is capable of submitting an activation request to calculate aninitial service pricing plan for the end user based on initial profiledata captured by a data collection agent to determine an initial valueof the end user and a base price for at least one service. The databasestores the initial value of the end user and the base price for theservice. As the end user requests additional services, the service pricereduction program initially uses the initial value of the end user toiteratively recalculate a current value of the end user based on anumber of transaction requests submitted by the end user to reduce thebase price for the service. The system and method can further includeproviding shared resources and services of the communication networkaccessible by some of the end users having a common interest for sharingthe resources and services so as to reduce cost of network services andresources paid by some of the end users. The system and method canexecute a resource allocation program to dynamically allocate networkresources delivered to the end user per at least one transactionrequested by the end user and conducted during the communicationsession. The system and method can receive a transfer request from theend user to transfer data from a first processor located at a firstlocation to a second processor located at a second location as the enduser travels from the first location to the second location. The firstprocessor authorizes the transfer request if the user-defined sets ofrules and instructions of the end user permit the transfer of the data.The first processor can transfer the data of the end user to the secondprocessor if the first processor authorizes the transfer request. Thesystem and method can execute an e-commerce alias program to enable theend user to create a service identity to conduct an e-commercetransaction during the communication session over the communicationnetwork without revealing a true identity of the end user duringnegotiations of terms of the e-commerce transaction. The system andmethod can reveal the true identity of the end user when the end useragrees to the terms of the e-commerce transaction. The service identitycan include at least one attribute known to the at least one end userand at least one attribute unknown to the at least one end user. Thesystem and method can enable the end user to dynamically submit a securechannel request to establish a secure channel to conduct the sessionbetween at least two end points within the communication network. Inresponse to the secure channel request, the system and method cantransmit a terms of service agreement to recipients of each end pointsto obtain consent from each recipient to terms and conditions definedwithin the terms of service agreements to establish the secure channel.The system and method can issue instructions to the communicationnetwork to open the secured channel between an end point of the end userand each end point of the recipients that agree to terms of service forestablishing the secured channel. After the completion of the securedtransaction, the communication network can delete and erase all data andinformation associated with the session conducted over the securedchannel from the communication network and all the end points of therecipients and the end user.

A system and method for pricing network services based on a serviceexperience delivered to a consumer via a device, according to variousexemplary embodiments, can include storing, in a database of a computer,data for prices for services delivered to a consumer and informationidentifying the consumer. The system and method can receive at thecomputer, via a network capable of conducting simultaneous communicationsessions and a device, input selection information indicative of atleast one type of service and at least one level of a quality ofexperience of a service to be delivered to the consumer via the device.The system and method can also access a quality of experience modelconfigured based on at least one dimension that controls a perception ofa sensation that the consumer experiences when the service is deliveredto the consumer via the device. The system and method can furthercompute a price associated with the level of the quality of experienceof the service selected by the consumer by applying the quality ofexperience model using the type of service and the level of the qualityof experience of the service. The system and method can transmit theprice over the network to the device for display to the consumer. If theconsumer enters a response agreeing to the price, the system and methodcan transmit the type of service based on the level of the quality ofexperience to the consumer.

A system and method for designating shared resources and services zonesin a smart multi-service communications network, according to variousembodiments, can include providing a virtual security zone for localshared services network to designate Virtual Computer NetworkingDemilitarized Zones (DMZs) for a plurality of local unrelated entitieswithin a local area network with local connectivity access; providelocal connectivity access to the virtual computer networking DMZs foraccessing local shared services and resources provided on a local sharedservices hardware platform employing security zone virtualizationsoftware, wherein each of the plurality of unrelated entities areunrelated entities that gain access to share common resources andservices to perform tasks on independent and unrelated projects; and tosegment software resources to store data of each entity to provide eachentity with separate, private and secure access to the data stored bythe entity. The system and method can provide, within the virtualsecurity zone local shared services network, a local area networkmanager to permit access to the virtual computer networking DMZs toaccess the local shared services and resources of the virtual securityzone local shared services network to the plurality of local unrelatedentities located within a predefined local wireless or wired geographiccommunication access area. The system and method can also provide,within the virtual security zone local shared services network, a localvirtual computer networking DMZ machine configured as asoftware-implementation of a computer having a local hardware computingplatform capable of providing at least one DMZ within a common localhardware computing environment for allowing the plurality of localunrelated entities to share local applications and databases within theat least one virtual computer networking DMZ. The system and method canfurther provide the local virtual computer networking DMZ machineinstalled on a local host hardware platform including local systemhardware and software applications. The system and method can share thelocal system hardware as a common local hardware and software resourcesvirtually partitioned into the virtual computer networking DMZspartitioned according to each local entity of the plurality of localunrelated entities to provide secure isolation of entity proprietaryinformation and secure entity access to the local software applicationspartitioned for each local entity. The system and method can provide,within the virtual security zone local shared services network, a localresource database for grouping and storing the security zone localshared services and resources provided on the local area network via thevirtual computer networking DMZs based on a plurality of local interestsdefined as being common among the plurality of local unrelated entities.The system and method can also provide a virtual security zone forhigher level shared services network connected to the virtual securityzone local shared services network and provide a plurality of higherlevel unrelated entities access to higher level shared services andresources provided on a higher level shared services hardware andsoftware platform employing the security zone virtualization software.The higher level shared services network can include any level definedwithin the communication network at a level higher than the local levelshared services network. The plurality of higher level unrelatedentities can include a plurality of higher level users registered atleast one higher level shared services network and the plurality oflocal unrelated entities seeking access to higher level shared servicesand resources that are unavailable to the plurality of local unrelatedentities on the virtual security zone local shared services network. Thesystem and method can provide, within the virtual security zone higherlevel shared services network, a higher level area network manager topermit virtual security zone access to the higher level services andresources of the security zone higher level virtual shared servicesnetwork to the plurality of higher level unrelated entities. The systemand method can also provide, within the virtual security zone higherlevel shared services network, a secure higher level virtual machineconfigured as software-implementation of a computer having a higherlevel hardware computing platform capable of providing a common higherlevel hardware computing environment for allowing the plurality ofhigher level unrelated entities to virtually share higher level commonapplications and databases. The system and method can further providethe higher level virtual secure machine installed on a higher level hosthardware platform including higher level system hardware and softwareapplications. The system and method can share the higher level systemhardware as a common higher level software resource and the higher levelsoftware applications partitioned according to each higher levelentity's virtual computer networking DMZ of the plurality of higherlevel unrelated entities to provide secure isolation of entityproprietary information and secure entity access to the higher levelsoftware applications partitioned for each higher level entity. Thesystem and method can provide, within the virtual security zone higherlevel shared services network, a higher level resource database forgrouping and storing the higher level shared services and resourcesprovided on the security zone higher level area network based on aplurality of higher level interests defined as being common among theplurality of higher unrelated entities.

A system and method for designating virtual individual security zoneswithin a communications network, according to various exemplaryembodiments, can include storing, in a database of a computer, data fordesignating virtual individual security zones (DMZs). The system andmethod can designate the DMZs for a plurality of unrelated entities withnetwork connectivity located within a predefined wireless or wiredgeographic communication access area. The plurality of unrelatedentities can be assigned such that all of the entities are unrelatedentities that gain access to share common resources and services toperform tasks on independent and unrelated projects. The system andmethod can segment software resources to store data of each entity toprovide each entity with separate, private and secure access to the datastored by the entity. The system and method can provide access to theDMZs to access shared services and resources provided on a sharedservices hardware platform and employ security zone virtualizationsoftware. The system and method can permit access to the shared servicesand resources of a first virtual shared services network to theplurality of unrelated entities located within the predefined wirelessor wired geographic communication access area. The system and method canprovide a hardware computing platform capable of providing at least onevirtual DMZ within a common hardware computing environment for allowingthe plurality of unrelated entities located within the predefinedwireless or wired geographic communication access area to shareapplications and databases within the at least one virtual computernetworking DMZ. The system and method can also provide a host hardwareplatform including hardware and software applications capable of beingshared as a common hardware software resources virtually partitionedinto the virtual computer networking DMZs according to each entitylocated within the predefined wireless or wired geographic communicationaccess area to provide secure isolation of entity proprietaryinformation and to provide entity secure access to the softwareapplications partitioned for each entity. The system and method cangroup and store, in the database, the security zone shared services andresources provided on the network via the virtual computer networkingDMZs based on a plurality of interests defined as being common among theplurality of unrelated entities located within the predefined wirelessor wired geographic communication access area.

A system and method for provisioning and pricing services provided to auser via a device connected to a smart multi-services communicationnetwork based on an economic value of the user to the network, accordingto various exemplary embodiments, can include assigning in a serviceidentity database a service identity to identify a user to permit accessto a smart multi-services communication network for requesting andreceiving at least one type of service over a common access connection.The system and method can receive from a device operated by the user aservice request to receive services at a service application managerwithin the smart multi-services network. The system and method canprovision features of the services requested by the user beingcontrolled by the service identity, comprising: determining a QSL levelof service requested by the user; storing, in an attribute database,parameters of the smart multi-services network for activation of the QSLlevel of service requested by the user; and collecting data regardingnetwork usage patterns of the user and a number of merchant transactionsconducted by the user as a function of time and location. The system andmethod can calculate, based on the data regarding the network usagepatterns of the user and the number of merchant transactions conductedby the user, an Economic Value Attribute (EVA) of the user to define acommercial economic value of the user to the network and merchantsregistered on the network. The system and method can price the QSL levelof service requested by the user employing a pricing algorithm to ensurethat the network automatically offers to the user a lowest availableprice for a standard service transaction based on the QSL level ofservice. The system and method can collect QSL Service Networkparameters from a Customer Database. The system and method can compute aStandard Pricing Factor based on a number of network merchanttransactions conducted by the user as determined based on NetworkResources Utilization Parameters for the selected QSL Level of service.The system and method can also compute a Customer Discount PricingFactor based on the EVA of the user and offer a discount level for thenumber and value of network merchant transactions conducted by the userover a predetermined time period. The system and method can determinewhether additional Customized Service Charges are applicable based onwhether the user requested additional customization of the standardservices. If the additional Customized Service Charges are applicable,the system and method can collect the QSL Service Network parametersfrom the Customer Database to compute a Customized Service Usage chargeand compute the service transaction charge for the requested QSL Levelof services based on the Customized Service Usage, the Standard PricingFactor, and the Customer Discount Pricing Factor. If no additionalCustomized Service Charges are applicable, system and method can selecta Custom Engineered Monthly Service Charge and compute the servicetransaction charge for the requested QSL Level of services based on theCustom Engineered Monthly Service Charge, the Standard Pricing Factor,and the Customer Discount Pricing Factor.

A method for seamlessly transitioning active services sessions acrossnetworks, according to various exemplary embodiments, can includeestablishing a communication session with a device to conduct a servicesession with a first type of network. The method can deliver services tothe device connected to the first type of network during the servicesession. The services delivered to the device can be configured based ona Service Latency Quality Index (LQI) rating, which defines theExperience (QoE) a user operating the device will experience whenreceiving the services via the device. The method can receive a servicetransition request from the device connected to the first type ofnetwork to receive the services at a second type of network as thedevice travels from the first type of network to the second type ofnetwork. The first type of network and the second type of network can beconfigured having different performance capabilities. The method canperform service interoperability between the first type of network andthe second type of network by dynamically modifying the QoE via the LQIrating of the user to maintain the experience of the user as the devicetransitions from the first type of network to the second type of networkhaving different performance capabilities. The method can determine aQoE Service Level (QSL) for the services being delivered to the devicevia the first type of network. The method can acquire a first set ofparameters configured on the first type of network to deliver the QSL ofthe services to the device via the second type of network. The methodcan determine whether the second type of network is configured havingthe Service LQI Rating used to deliver the QSL of the services to thedevice via the first type of network so that the services can beseamlessly transitioned to the second type of network. If the secondtype of network is configured having the Service LQI Rating of the firsttype of network, the method can set a second set of parameters of theService LQI Rating on the second type of network based on the first setof parameters and transfer the service session from the first type ofnetwork to the second type of network. If the second type of network isnot configured having the Service LQI Rating of the first type ofnetwork, the method can adjust the first set of parameters of theService LQI Rating of the first type of network to match an existingService LQI Rating already provided by the second type of network andtransfer the service session from the first type of network to thesecond type of network.

A system and method for dynamically managing a transaction over anetwork between at least two service identities, according to variousexemplary embodiments, can include employing a computer system having atleast one database that applies a pricing model algorithm that computesprices of content and media services based on a quality of experiencedelivered to at least one of the two service identities. The system andmethod can assign service identities to objects having identifiableattributes. The system and method can establish a connection betweendevices connected to a network for conducting transactions regarding atleast one of the objects, wherein each service identity is assigned aunique identification. The system and method can implement a servicespricing analysis by applying the pricing model algorithm for a consumerservice identity of the service identities. The consumer serviceidentity can include an object that initiates a transaction request overthe network. The system and method can compute, based on the pricinganalysis, a service identity rating factor for the consumer serviceidentity. The system and method can create a consumer service identitydatabase of consumer service identity information related to consumerrights and privileges allocated to consumer service identities toreceive from the network. The consumer rights and privileges allocatedto each consumer service identity can be based on consumer serviceattributes assigned to each of the consumer service identities. Theconsumer service attributes can include user identity security selectionattributes, user identity unsecured networking attributes, user identityexperience attributes, and user identity service location information.The user identity security selection attributes can be assigned touniquely identify each consumer service identity within the consumerservice identity database, wherein the user identity security selectionattributes can be controlled by the network as private and confidentialinformation. The user identity unsecured networking attributes can beassigned and controlled by the consumer service identity as a customeralias identification and disclosed as public information for initiatingand conducting transactions anonymously over the network withoutdisclosing the consumer service identity. The user identity experienceattributes can be selected and purchased by the consumer serviceidentity to define a quality of service experience interaction to bededicated and delivered to the consumer service identity during acommunication session over the network. The user identity experienceattributes can include user Latency Quality Index (LQI) selectionpreferences and user identity service form selection preferencesselected from at least one of voice, video, multimedia, and dataservices transmissions. The user identity service location can beassigned by the consumer service identity to define a relative locationof the consumer service identity as a fixed identity or a mobileidentity for conducting transactions over the network. The relativelocation of the mobile consumer service identity can be constantlymonitored and dynamically updated to allow the consumer to conducttransactions over the network. The system and method can calculate adiscount rating factor for the consumer service identity to determine acost reduction of content and media services purchased by the consumerservice identity to be delivered over the network. The discount ratingfactor can be based on the user identity security selection attributes,the user identity unsecured networking attributes, the user identityexperience attributes, and the user identity service location, and aconsumer e-commerce value attribute calculated to define a commercialeconomic value for the at least one consumer service identity. Thesystem and method can conduct a merchant category analysis for at leastone merchant service identity of the service identities. The merchantservice identity can include at least one object that provides aresponse to the transaction initiated by the consumer service identityover the network. The system and method can create a merchant serviceidentity database of merchant service identity information related tomerchant rights and privileges allocated to merchant service identitiesto receive services from the network. The merchant rights and privilegesallocated to each merchant can be based on merchant service attributesassigned to each of the merchant service identities. The merchantservice attribute can include merchant identity selection attributes,merchant identity unsecured networking attributes, goods and servicesattributes, merchant identity experience attributes, demographic profileattributes, merchant service location attributes, and merchant discountschedule data. The merchant identity security selection attributes canbe assigned to uniquely identify each merchant service identity withinthe merchant service identity database. The merchant identity securityselection attributes can be controlled by the network as private andconfidential information. The merchant identity security selectionattributes are assigned to calculate a risk rating for each merchantservice identity by performing a risk assessment that calculates riskfor a consumer service identity to engage in a commercial relationshipto conduct the transaction request with the at least one merchantservice identity over the network; determine, based on the calculatedrisk rating and the risk assessment, whether to submit to the at leastone merchant service identity the transaction request initiated by theat least one consumer service identity; and approve and submit thetransaction request to the merchant service identity when the riskrating exceeds a predefined risk threshold. The merchant identityunsecured networking attributes are assigned and controlled by themerchant service identity as a merchant identification and disclosed aspublic information for conducting transactions over the network. Thegoods and services attributes can be defined as categories to matchgoods and services according to the transaction request initiated by theconsumer service identity with the goods and services provided by themerchant service identity. The merchant identity experience attributescan be selected and purchased by the merchant service identity to definethe quality of service experience interaction to be dedicated anddelivered during the communication session to conduct the transactionrequest over the network between the merchant service identity and thecustomer service identity. When the merchant identity experienceattributes differ from the consumer identity experience attributes, themerchant identity experience attributes dictate the quality of serviceexperienced by the merchant service identity and the consumer serviceidentity during the communication session. The merchant user identityexperience attributes can include merchant LQI selection preference anduser identity service form selection preferences selected from voice,video, multimedia, or data services transmissions. The demographicprofile attributes can be assigned by the merchant service identity todefine demographic profiles of a target group of the consumer serviceidentity and to direct the goods and services of the merchant serviceidentity towards the target group to facilitate transactions with theconsumer service identity. The merchant service location attributes canbe assigned to dynamically plot a geographical map of the location ofthe consumer service identity relative to a location of the merchantservice identity and to transmit merchant advertisement information tothe consumer service identity when the consumer service identity enterswithin a predefined boundary area of the geographical map where themerchant service identity is located. The merchant discount scheduledata can be assigned by the merchant service identity to identifyadvertisements of discounted products offered by the merchant serviceidentity. The advertisements can be updated and stored periodicallywithin the merchant discount schedule database by the merchant serviceidentity as incentives to increase transactions with the at least oneconsumer service identity. The system and method can perform pricinganalysis and comparisons for the consumer service identity with aproduct and service of the merchant category analysis of the merchantservice identities to match the product and/or service transactionrequested by the consumer service identity based on the goods andservices provided by the merchant service identities to facilitatecompletion of the transaction requested. The system and method cancalculate, iteratively, the discount rating factor for the consumerservice identity based upon a number of transaction requests completedbetween the consumer service identity and the merchant serviceidentities.

A system for rewarding consumers and merchants for conductingtransactions over a network, according to various exemplary embodiments,the system can include at least one processor, and a plurality ofdatabases connected to the at least one processor for storing data andinstructions to cause the at least one processor to execute ashared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce networking program thatrewards both consumers and merchants for conducting at least one directe-commerce transaction between consumers and merchants. The shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce networking program can be executed using aSecure Channel Biometric Transaction (SCBT) Algorithm for providingsecure communication channels for conducting the at least one e-commercetransaction between the consumers and the merchants. The processorreceives consumer data from the consumer, receives merchant data fromthe merchant, and assigns a consumer global service identity (GSI) tothe consumer based on the consumer data and assigns a merchant GSI tothe merchant based on the merchant data. The plurality of databases caninclude at least one consumer database and at least one merchantdatabase. The consumer databases, under the control of the consumer, canbe configured to store consumer GSI data based on the consumer GSIassigned to the consumer. The consumer GSI data can include a pluralityof attributes that uniquely identify the consumer within the network forconducting e-commerce networking transactions, social networking andadvertising between the consumer and the merchant. The plurality ofattributes can include at least one consumer security identity attribute(SIA) that defines how the consumer controls the consumer GSI on thenetwork; at least one consumer networking identity attribute (NIA) thatdefines how the at least one consumer controls networking with otherconsumer GSIs and merchant GSIs registered on the network; at least oneconsumer communication services attribute (CSI) that defines howcommunications and transactions are conducted with the consumer over thenetwork, as defined by the at least one consumer; and at least oneconsumer e-commerce value attribute (EVA) that defines how the networkcalculates a value of the consumer to the network and to the merchant.The merchant database, under the control of the at least one merchant,can be configured to store merchant GSI data based on the merchant GSIassigned to the merchant. The merchant GSI data can include a pluralityof attributes, which can include at least one merchant SIA that defineshow the at least one merchant controls the merchant GSI on the network;at least one merchant NIA which defines how the at least one merchantcontrols networking with consumer GSIs and other merchant GSIsregistered on the network; at least one merchant CSI that defines howcommunications and transactions are conducted with the merchant over thenetwork, as defined by the merchant; and at least one merchant EVA thatdefines how the network calculates a value of the merchant to thenetwork owner and to other merchants.

A system for providing a competitive analysis of products and servicesoffered by merchants registered on a network, according to variousexemplary embodiments, can include a Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW) networkconfigured based on a shared-value consumer-merchant service costsharing scheme that conducts commercial transactions using at least oneconsumer global service identity (GSI) to automatically perform acompetitive analysis of products and services offered by at least onemerchant on the network and to conduct private commercial transactionswithout revealing the at least one consumer GSI to the at least onemerchant until a consumer agrees to the commercial transaction. Thesystem can include at least one processor connected to the HFW network;and a plurality of databases connected to the at least one HFW networkfor storing data and instructions to cause the at least one processor toestablish a peering relationship to connect at least one consumer andthe merchant on the HFW network to provide the consumer with real-timeaccess to all pricing, product and services features, and product andservices available data regarding similar products and services offeredsimultaneously from all merchants that are registered on the HFW networkand agree to competitively sell at a present time the product or theservice to the at least one consumer. The processor can receive consumerdata from the at least one consumer; assign a consumer GSI to theconsumer based on the consumer data; and receive, from the consumer, arequest for a same or better commercial price for at least one productor service offered by different merchants registered on the network. Theprocessor can also perform, based on the consumer request, thecompetitive analysis for the same or better commercial price based oncurrent data available from all of the merchants that agree to competesimultaneously to sell the at least one product or the service to theconsumer GSI, and perform the competitive analysis by retrieving andanalyzing data stored within the plurality of databases. The pluralityof databases can include at least one consumer value propositiondatabase, at least one consumer database, at least one merchant valueproposition database, at least one merchant benefit database, and atleast one consumer benefit database. The consumer value propositiondatabase can be configured to dynamically retrieve and store, for the atleast one consumer, best current available prices for at least oneproduct or service offered by merchants registered on the network. Theconsumer database, under the control of the consumer, can be configuredto store consumer GSI data based on the consumer GSI assigned to the atleast one consumer. The consumer GSI data can include a plurality ofattributes that uniquely identify the consumer within the network forconducting e-commerce networking transaction, social networking andadvertising between the consumer and the merchant. The plurality ofattributes can include at least one consumer security identity attribute(SIA), at least one consumer networking identity attribute (NIA), atleast one consumer communication services attribute (CSI), and at leastone consumer e-commerce value attribute (EVA). The consumer securityidentity attribute (SIA) can be assigned to include consumer secureddata. The processor can be configured to enable the consumer to provideinstructions to segment the consumer secured data into a consumerrelational database. The consumer secured data uniquely identifies theat least one consumer and can be segmented into confidential and privatedata known only to the network and the consumer. The processor canrestrict access and use of the consumer secured data such that theconsumer secured data is used only to finalize and authorize thee-commerce transaction between the consumer and the merchant under thecontrol of the consumer and the network through the use of a SecuredChannel Biometric Transaction (SCBT) Algorithm. The consumer networkingidentity attribute (NIA) can be assigned to include consumertransactional data and demographic data regarding the at least oneconsumer. The processor can be configured to dynamically track the atleast one consumer NIA based on a physical location of the consumer, andstore and update the consumer NIA in the consumer database based on thephysical location of the consumer. The processor can track the physicallocation of the consumer relative to a physical location of the merchantto enable the merchant to provide instructions to instantaneouslygenerate and offer special products or services or special discounts onproducts or services to the consumer based on the physical location anddemographic profile of the consumer. The consumer communication servicesattribute (CSI) can be assigned to identify a type of at least onecommunication device registered for use on the network by the consumerand to identify features and services equipped and programmed on thecommunication device to support different forms of communicationservices. The consumer e-commerce value attribute (EVA) can becalculated by the at least one processor to define a commercial economicvalue for the at least one consumer. The processor can continuouslyrecalculate the at least one consumer EVA based on a number ofe-commerce transactions conducted on the network by the at least oneconsumer within a predetermined period of time. The processor canmonitor and continuously update the consumer EVA to enable the merchantor a network service provider to offer product and services discount tothe consumer based on the consumer EVA. The processor can be configuredto enable the merchant to access valuable consumer data stored in theconsumer database as an incentive for the merchant to offer the bestcurrent price available for the at least one product or service to theconsumer. The valuable consumer data can include demographic profilingdata including the consumer NIA, the consumer CSI, and the consumer EVA.The processor can be configured to determine a statistical probabilityof the merchant completing a successful sale with the consumer and todisplay the statistical probability to the merchant's device before themerchant offers the best current price for the product or service to theconsumer. The merchant value proposition database can be configured tostore data that enables the merchant to dynamically instruct theprocessor to calculate lower costs associated with marketing and sellingat least one product or service to increase the statistical probabilityof successfully completing the sale with the consumer by using theconsumer demographic data profiling information. The processor can beconfigured to identify high-valued consumers and enable the merchantaccess to the demographic profiling data regarding the high-valuedconsumers for electronic marketing and advertising purposes and toinstruct the processor to transmit direct marketing and targetedadvertising regarding at least one product or service to the high-valuedcustomers. The merchant benefit database can be configured to store datato enable the processor to calculate a cost savings for marketing andadvertising by comparing cost traditionally paid by the merchant toadvertise using traditional unsolicited request advertising techniquesand cost paid by the merchant to advertise using direct real-time accessto the demographic profiling data with solicited request advertisingtechniques. The consumer benefit database can be configured to storedata to enable the processor to execute a cost-sharing program thatenables a network service provider and the merchant to distribute aportion of the cost savings to one or more consumers to encourageconsumers to conduct frequent e-commerce transactions with the merchantor the network.

A system and method for advertising goods and services to consumers viaa device connected to a communication network, according to variousembodiments, can include receiving at, at least one processor, data foradvertising goods and services to at least one consumer via a deviceconnected to a communication network. The system and method can store,in a database, data for advertising goods and services to the consumervia the device connected to the communication network, and storeinstructions to cause the processor to receive, via the communicationnetwork, registration information and demographic profile information toreceive at least one product or service via the communication networkcapable of conducting simultaneous communication sessions selected froma voice, a video, a data, or multimedia transmission. The system andmethod can submit an authorization request to the consumer to obtainauthorization to track and monitor, as a function of time, physicallocation and demographic profile information, at least one deviceregistered for use on the network by the consumer. The system and methodcan provide to the consumer a selection option to grant theauthorization during the submission of the registration information orto dynamically grant the authorization when the consumer initiates eachcommunication session over the network. The system and method can alsoprovide the consumer a tracking option to select a continuously trackingand monitoring feature or a selective tracking and monitoring feature.The continuously tracking and monitoring feature authorizes the networkto continuously monitor and track the physical location of the device.The selective tracking and monitoring feature also enables the consumerto select when the network monitors and tracks the device based on anoccurrence of a triggering event. If permission is granted by theconsumer, the system and method can track and monitor as a function oftime and the physical location of the device within the network. Thesystem and method can detect when the device enters a predefinedgeographical area.

A system and method for transferring data to an end user via a deviceconnected to a communication network, according to various exemplaryembodiments, can include receiving at, a processor, data to facilitatetransfer of the data to an end user to a device connected to acommunication network. The system and method can store, in a database,data to facilitate the transfer of the data to the end user via thedevice connected to the communication network, and store instructions tocause the at least one processor to receive, via the communicationnetwork, registration information to identify the end user on thecommunication network. The system and method can assign in at least onedatabase, based on the registration information of the end user, a homelocation network associated with the end user, a service identity toidentify the end user to permit access to the network for requesting andreceiving services, and at least one end user permanent deviceregistered and authorized by the end user to transmit requests and toreceive services on behalf of the end user. The system and method canreceive an access request submitted by the end user from at least onevisiting network. In response to the access request from the at leastone visiting network, the system and method can add each visitingnetwork as an ad hoc addition of a server node on a local, regional,national, or global level within the communication network and identifythe end user as a visitor within each visiting network. In response tothe access request from the at least one visiting network, the systemand method can execute a mobile cloud computing data networking protocolto implement a data handover to grant access to the data on the homenetwork and deliver the data and other products and services to the enduser via the visiting network at a quality of experience service levelselected by the end user during the registration process. The system andmethod can automatically locate the data on servers on the home networkof the end user and automatically transfer a copy of the data from atleast one server on the home network to at least one server on the atleast one visiting network. The system and method can automaticallymaintain, synchronize, and age the data of the end user until the enduser returns and accesses the home network.

A system and method for providing a secure transmission of data, underthe control of an end user, when the end user initiates a transaction orcommunication session over a communication network, according to variousexemplary embodiments, can include receiving at, a processor, data forproviding a secure transmission for transmitted data when an end userinitiates at least one of a transaction or a communication session witha device connected to a communication network. The system and method canstore, in a database, the data for providing the secure transmission forthe transmitted data when the end user initiates a transaction or acommunication session with the device connected to the communicationnetwork, and store instructions to cause the at least one processor toreceive, via the communication network, registration informationincluding biometric data and at least one sampling rate for eachbiometric data provided by the end user to initiate a registration orauthorization process. The system and method can store the registrationinformation and the biometric data in at least one consumer database.The system and method can assign in a service identity database aservice identity to identify the end user to permit access to thecommunication network for requesting and receiving at least one type ofservice over a common access connection. The service identity caninclude at least one known attribute, which is known to the end user,and at least one unknown attribute, which is unknown to the end user.The system and method can generate the at least one unknown attribute byencrypting the biometric data provided by the end user such that theencoded information is known only to the communication network. Thesystem and method can combine the at least one known attribute with theat least one unknown attribute to create a unique service identitysecurity token for the end user. The system and method can receive arequest to conduct the transaction or communication session. The systemand method can automatically monitor all requests transmitted from theend user to determine whether to conduct the transaction orcommunication session using a secure channel. If a determination is madethat the communication session requires transmission over the securedchannel between at least two end points within the communicationnetwork, the system and method can establish the secure channel toconduct the communication session. The system and method can verifyauthenticity of the end user by requesting a copy of the biometric dataof the end user. The system and method can receive the copy of therequested biometric data of the end user. The system and method canperform a comparative analysis of the copy of the requested biometricdata with the biometric data provided by the end user during theregistration process. The system and method can transmit a terms ofservice agreement to recipients of each end points to obtain consentfrom each recipient to terms and conditions defined within the terms ofservice agreements to establish the secure channel. Upon verifying theauthenticity of the end user and obtaining the consent from at least onerecipient, the system and method can compute a sampling code for eachbiometric data by combining each sampling rate with a random numbergenerator. The sampling rate for each biometric data can be provided bythe end user to set a frequency to modify the unique service identitytoken to control a level of security afforded by the network for thetransaction or communication session requested by the end user. Thesystem and method can encode the transaction or the communicationsession with the unique service identity security token using a SecuredChannel Biometric Transaction (SCBT) Algorithm. The system and methodcan modify the unique service identity security token based on thesampling code for each biometric data. The system and method can issueat least one instruction to open the secured channel between an endpoint of the end user and each end point of the recipients that agree toterms of service for establishing the secured channel. The system andmethod can transmit the data of the communication session over thesecure channel. After the completion of the secured communicationsession, the system and method can delete and erase all data andinformation associated with the communication session conducted over thesecured channel from the communication network and all the end points ofthe recipients, the end user devices or both.

A system and method for accessing resources and services provided by anetwork, according to various exemplary embodiments, can includeproviding a communication system comprising a plurality of networks anddetermining a physical location of a device connected to a first networkof the plurality of networks. The system and method can request accessto services provided on a second network of the plurality of networkswhen the device crosses a boundary area and enters as a visitor into thesecond network. The boundary area represents an intersection in physicalboundaries of the first network and the second network, wherein thesecond network is in use by the device at a time of crossing of theboundary area. In response to the access to services request, the systemand method can grant access to the services provided by the secondnetwork. The system and method can broadcast at least one signalingmessage by the second network to all networks of the plurality ofnetworks to locate a home network of the device. In response to thebroadcast of the at least one signaling message, the system and methodcan receive an acknowledgment message from the home network indicatingthat the device is registered within the home network. In response tothe acknowledgment message, the system and method can establish apeer-to-peer connection between the home network and the second networkto enable the device to access shared resources and services provided bythe home network while the device travels within the boundary area ofthe second network.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained bymeans of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one (several) embodiment(s) ofthe invention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 (prior art) illustrates a known communication and informationnetwork architecture model for service delivery and pricing;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a communication Quality ofExperience (QoE) service delivery pricing model in accordance with thepresent teachings;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Smart Multi-Services(SMS) communication network utilizing Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW)networks for implementing the features of the present teachings;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating how a user interacts witha Service Access Manager (SAM) of the SMS communication network toprovision services received from the network;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the major process andoperations of the SAM for implementing a pricing algorithm for computingpricing for utilizing network resources and services;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the features andoperations of a service delivery and management algorithm that enablesthe SMS network to seamlessly transition services to an alternativenetwork by adjusting the Service Latency Quality Index (LQI);

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) NetworkingModel in accordance with the present teachings;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce GSI Naming Architecture in accordance withthe present teachings;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of ashared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce GSI Data ManagementArchitecture, which defines how the SMS network establishes peeringrelationships between consumers and merchants;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the features andoperations of a Transaction Pricing and Advertising Algorithm thatfacilitates transactions between consumers and merchants within theshared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce GSI Networking Model;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the features andoperations of an Automatic E-Commerce Value Attribute (EVA) Analysis andPricing Algorithm used by the SMS network to calculate an economic valueof each consumer and merchant GSI;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the features andoperation of a consumer e-commerce Secure Channel Biometric Transaction(SCBT) Algorithm used by the SMS network to establish a secure Channelto conduct a secure communication between end points of the network andto decouple a consumer from a particular device assigned to the user onthe network to permit network services and resources to be delivered toany device;

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a Mobile Cloud Computing(MCP) Network used by the SMS network to transfer an end user's datafrom a local home network to a visiting network; and

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary flow chart illustrating the featuresand operations of a MCP Data Management Protocol Algorithm used by theSMS network to transfer an end user's data from a local home network toa visiting network.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made to various embodiments, examples of which areillustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, these variousexemplary embodiments are not intended to limit the disclosure. On thecontrary, the disclosure is intended to cover alternatives,modifications, and equivalents.

Throughout the application, description of various embodiments may use“comprising” language, however, it will be understood by one of skill inthe art, that in some specific instances, an embodiment canalternatively be described using the language “consisting essentiallyof” or “consisting of.”

For purposes of better understanding the present teachings and in no waylimiting the scope of the teachings, it will be clear to one of skill inthe art that the use of the singular includes the plural unlessspecifically stated otherwise. Therefore, the terms “a”, “an”, and “atleast one” are used interchangeably in this application.

The SMS communication network of the present teachings are based onservice-centric policy management techniques that enable each end userto configure his or her own virtual network operating environment withinthe SMS network. The end user establishes his or her virtual network todefine and set the parameters for the services and resources that theSMS network will provide to the user and the manner in which they areprovided by the network to the user. Various embodiments of the SMSnetwork enable each end user to define and control various features, forexample, such as the capability to support any type of service sessionusing broadband transactions, a Quality of Experience (QoE) servicedelivery approach, a service pricing model, a service provisioningparadigm, a Latency Quality Index (LQI) technique, a shared resourcesscheme, dynamic allocation of network resources, Mobile Cloud Computing,alias e-commerce transactions, and secured channel communications. Theparameters of each of these features can be initially set or activatedby the user, dynamically monitored by the SMS communications network andmade available to the end user, who can selectively modify one or moreof these features in real-time.

Thus, various embodiments of the SMS networks, which are referred to asService-Centric Policy Management based networks allows for networkservice intelligent within a network to be distributive throughout allsegments and/or components of the network, such as at end user devices,access and transport network platforms, as well as media content andcore network service platforms. These Service-Centric Policy Managementbased network capabilities further enable multiple simultaneous sessionsor connections between any numbers of network end points and as suchthese types of networks employ a communication service delivery pricingmodel that differs from conventional systems and networks.

Various embodiments of the SMS communication network provide a servicedelivery approach and a pricing model for converged broadband wireline,cellular or wireless network access services based on an end usercommunication service QoE service delivered method used by a convergedSMS communication network. Whereby, the devices and methods enable thedelivery of simultaneous voice communication sessions, simultaneouscommunication video sessions, simultaneous data information sessions,and simultaneous multimedia communication sessions and capabilities, aswell as simultaneous independent communication sessions, which can bevoice, video, data and/or multimedia. These communication andinformation session transaction service types can be managed based on acommon session transaction platform within the converged SMScommunication network to ensure that all session transactions meet theQoE network service performance metrics as defined by the end user. Thedevices and methods further allow the end user to select desired serviceexperience levels “QoE Service Levels” for each transaction session typebased on the policy management capabilities contained within theconverged SMS communication network as defined by the end user. Inaddition, the devices and methods allow the SMS communication network todynamically allocate transaction session bandwidths as a function of theLatency Quality Index (LQI) for each session transaction service type asrequired by the end user in real-time to meet the QoE Service Levelobjectives based on the price of the service to the end user.

Various embodiments of the SMS communication network and the servicedelivery pricing model takes advantage of the emergence of new fiberEthernet and broadband wireless communication technologies and theconvergence of these technologies into hybrid fiber-wireless networkswith an integrated implementation of Quality of Service (QoS) to supportthe QoE service delivery model. These advancements eliminate the pastrestriction on bandwidth and various QoS limitations and as a resultenable the implementation of the converged SMS communication networks.

The use of hybrid fiber-wireless networking design has expanded theconcept of “bandwidth” such that it can now be perceived as a commodityfrom a service pricing perspective and as a result the bandwidth can bedynamically allocated as a function of the type of session transactionenabled by the end user in real-time. As such, various embodiments ofthe communication service delivery pricing model provide a communicationservice pricing paradigm or model that focuses on the service experiencethat can be provided to the end user while on the network, and not onthe quality of a communication service connection for providing suchservice forms as voice, video, or data that can be provided to the enduser from different types of networks. The pricing paradigm can beconfigured to be based on the quality of the communication serviceexperience which is provided to each user over the converged SMScommunication network as a function of the network resources utilizedfrom the perspective of each individual user's communication servicetransaction sessions conducted over the converged SMS communicationnetwork. The pricing paradigm can also be configured to guarantee thequality of experience service level for a user's communication servicetransaction session which can be priced as a function of both theresource utilization on multi-services network and the interval of timethat those resources are used. This pricing paradigm approach can bereferred to as the Quality of Experience (QoE) Index or QoE ServiceLevel. By leveraging this virtually unlimited network bandwidth andarchitectural capabilities scheme, in various embodiments, the deviceand method can create a communication network environment that allows anend user to be represented on the SMS network as a Global ServiceIdentities (GSI), which is a logical identity that is assigned to theend user for the purpose of providing an end user service experience ona specific SMS network or on any combination of SMS networks.

In various embodiments, these SMS networks are also capable of providingany communication service form such as voice, video, or data orcombination of these service forms over a single SMS network with theunique ability of allowing the end user to select a variety of serviceexperience levels from a single SMS network using network policymanagement techniques employed within the network or within the end userdevice or by the combination of the end user device and the network.These network policy management techniques can be used to provide SMSnetworks with the intelligence to understand each user's GSIcommunication service transaction needs and to ensure that each user'sservice transaction is guaranteed to meet the same service experiencelevel requirement for every transaction that is requested by the enduser. Various embodiments provide methods for pricing communicationservices, without the limitations of legacy networks where differentnetworks or the combinations of different networks all provide differentquality of service communication connections to the end user, none ofwhich can be independently selected by the end user. Various embodimentsprovide an approach that uses common wireless access and wirelinenetworks based on the Internet Protocol (IP), where the end user and theend user devices are decoupled from each other until the end userdecides to establish a session with the networks from a particular enduser device. This approach of real-time network establishment of therelationship between the end user, Global Service Identity (GSI) for theend user, and a network end user access device can be used to provideservice access such as voice, video, multimedia data, and wirelessaccess and ensure the communication service experience that the end userwill have when using the network. In addition, this approach ofreal-time network establishment of the relationship between the enduser, global service identity (GSI) for the end user, and a network enduser access device through the use of biometric also enhances the levelof the security of the end users' communication experience on thenetwork. This enables the network service provider to simplify themanagement of end user databases and the delivery of end user services.In some embodiments, the use of only common broadband IP wireless accessnetworks for the real-time network establishment between the end userand a particular network end user access device provides the maximumflexibility for pricing the network resources (services) based on thevalue delivered to an end user as a function of time, demand, andlocation while employing a converged SMS communication network.

Traditional service pricing model are based on bandwidth cost, end userdevice cost, or both, and not on the value of the service experience tothe end user. Various embodiments provide a service experience basedpricing models which allow the end user to select service experiencelevel categories, such as, for example, silver, gold, platinum or customengineered service experiences based on a paradigm of valuing the mediaand content-driven differentiation of the service level experience forvoice, video, and/or data by the end user based on service managementpolicies that are defined, managed and controlled by the end user.

Various embodiments of the communication service delivery pricing modelremove the current restrictions imposed on the end user by currentnetworks for basic voice, video, and data services, while also allowingthe end user to dynamically select their personal service experiencelevel for voice, video, and data under the control of the end user inreal-time. This approach for voice, by way of an example, allows the enduser to dynamically select a service experience level, such as basicvoice (Low bite rate voice), High Definition (HD) Voice, stereophonicvoice, etc. as the end user seamlessly moves between a wireline networkconnection, a wireless network connection or both. This approach forvideo, by way of an example, allows the end user to dynamically select aservice experience level, such as standard broadcast video services,HDTV (480P) service, HDTV (720P) service, HDTV (1080P) service, etc. asthe end user seamlessly moves between a wireline network connection, awireless network connection or both. By way of another example, thisapproach for data services allows the end user to dynamically set dataspeed as a function of the data access service experience that the useris requesting as a function of time and location, in contrast totraditional approaches, which utilizes the data network as a function ofthe bandwidth limitation of the data network at the time of usage whichis not under the control of the end user.

Various embodiments of the communication service delivery pricing modelprovides network capabilities, such as a converged SMS communicationnetwork platform capable of supporting the integration of voice, video,and data services on a single network which has the flexibility todynamically allocate bandwidth and quality of service requirement underthe control of the end user for any given end user requested serviceexperience level as a function of time, network resource utilization,and physical location based upon real-time commodity pricing for networkresources, therefore, providing a paradigm in communication servicepricing. As such, various embodiments also allow for any end user, notthe device, to be viewed as a Global Service Identity (GLSI) within thenetwork and hosted by the networks, which enables any end user todynamically request any affordable service experience level based on theexperience level pricing model defined by the network as a function oftime, network resource utilization, and physical location.

The GSI approach afforded by various embodiments of the communicationservice delivery pricing model also allows end users to conduct otherservice requests from the SMS network on behalf of the GSI. A fewexamples of such requests are to find directions to a location for theGSI, to find a product from a particular merchant on the network for theGSI, and to conduct a financial transaction on behalf of the GSI. Thoseskilled in the art would understand that various requests may beimplemented by the communication network based service delivery pricingmodels utilizing an analytic network platform for computing price as afunction of time, network resources utilization, and physical locationwithout departing from the scope of the present teachings.

Employing these network capabilities such as an analytic networkplatform also allows for the computation of a GSI rating factor thatconnotes a relativity value of GSIs to the network and merchants as afunction of the utilization of the network as well as the types ofactivities and transactions performed on behalf of a GSI on the network.Thereby, allowing the network to utilize this relativity value for a GSIon the network for the purpose of allowing merchants to perform directadvertising to select GSIs based on their values as defined by theirvalue rating factor and physical location within the network, as opposedto indiscriminately broadcasting online advertisements to all GSIs onthe network. This direct advertisement can yield a more direct responsefrom consumers that is more measurable. As such, this capability allowsthe network to provide discounts and other pricing incentive to theselected GSIs to encourage network utilization for information searchingand collection and/or economic transactions with other GSIs, such asmerchants, on the network as a function of their physical location. Theuse of these analytic network platforms also allows the network todynamically learn the buying habits and patterns of end user bycollecting and analyzing end user economic and social networkingtransactions on the network in real-time, thereby, creating ademographic profile and a value rating profile of each GSI on thenetwork for the purpose of aiding or assisting the end user witheconomic transactions, social networking transactions, or both on thenetwork.

Various embodiments provide a method of pricing SMS communicationnetwork services based on the value of the end user to the networkservice provider by collecting profiling data on the end users and usingthe data to set the initial price of a service. As the end userincreases their commercial transaction over the network, the end userbecomes a more valuable customer to the network. Therefore, the networkcan be configured to reduce the initial price of the service based onthe end user's usage of network services, other network resources orboth. In various embodiments, the SMS communication network enables theend user to interact with the network to test and/or experience thenetwork service capabilities and features to aid the end user inselecting the most affordable network service price based on the valueof the service to the end user. This feature allows the end users to setor select their own price for the communication service that they wouldrequest the network to deliver to them. The SMS communication network,in various embodiments, enables the end users to self-provision theirown communication network service capabilities and features based onpredefined standard QoE service packages. As alternative to thepredefined standard QoE service packages, the SMS network also providesthe end user with the option to customize their own communicationnetwork service capabilities and features. The options to select apredefined standard QoE and to customize an end user's QoE as providedby the SMS network differ from conventional networks, becauseconventional networks may allow the user to select a product such ascall-waiting but the user cannot modify the parameters, terms andconditions as to how the end user receives the call-waiting feature. Theend user is presented with a take-it-or-leave-it situation with nooptions, because the end user must accept the call-waiting features asprogrammed or established by the conventional network.

Various embodiments of the SMS communication network calculates an LQInetwork performance measurement for measuring the performance of thenetwork from the perspective of the end user by using human-machineinteractivity techniques to determine the relative quality of experiencethat a user senses when he or she is engaged in a communication sessionor transaction on the network. The LQI can further serve as ameasurement to ensure that the end user receives the requested level ofservice from the SMS network. In various embodiments, the SMS networkpermits multiple end users on the same level, end users on differentlevels, or the combination of end users on the same level and users ondifferent levels that have a common interest or affiliation to sharenetwork resources or services as means to reduce their overall networkcost of service. The SMS network, in various embodiments, can beconfigured to dynamically allocate network resource on a per sessiontransaction basis to meet to service QoE requirement requested by theend user for session transactions such as voice, video, data; ormultimedia.

Various embodiments of the SMS network can transfer the end users' datarepository from one access network physical location to another accessnetwork physical location so that the end user's network data repositorycan follow the end users as they move from one physical location wherenetwork access communication service is being provided to anotherphysical location within the same SMS network or another SMS networkwhere access communication service is provide and as such allow the enduser to have access to a Data Repository Follow-me Service. The SMSnetwork can monitor and transfer the end user's data based on either thephysical location of the end user's mobile or portable device or basedon the GSI assigned to an end user. Detection of the end user's devicecan be performed based on continuous mobility devices like “Cell Phonesor Laptop Computers” or portability end user devices like IP Telephoneor Desktop Computers. Various embodiments of the SMS network enables theuser to perform alias e-commerce transactions, which allow an end userto be identified on the network for e-commerce networking and e-commercebusiness negotiating without unveiling the real identity of the end useruntil the end user agrees to the terms of the e-commerce transaction andactivates the transaction. The alias for identifying the end user on thenetwork during the commission of an alias e-commerce transaction can bebased on the GSI assigned to uniquely identify the end user within thenetwork. In various embodiments, the SMS network affords an end user theoption to select per transaction/session or to specify for a predefinedgroup of transactions/sessions whether to establish a real-time securechannel for communication between the two end points on the network.After the secure transaction or session is completed, the SMS networkautomatically deletes all data associated with the session ortransaction.

Various embodiments of the SMS network enable the implementation of“Location Relevance Advertising” where merchants enrolled on the networkcan offer instantaneous discounts, sales, and coupons to consumersenrolled on the network as the consumers enters into a predefinedboundary. The end user can selectively activate the Location RelevanceAdvertising feature of the SMS network such that the network can monitorthe consumer's physical location and offer special discounts, sales, andcoupons based on physical location and the economic value assessment ofthe consumer as calculated by the network. The economic value assessmentof the consumer can be determined, for example, based on the number oftransactions or sessions conducted the consumer over and/or within thenetwork.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present teachingsof the communication service delivery pricing model may be embodied as asystem, method, or computer program product. In various embodiments, thepresent teachings include various steps, which will be described below.The steps of the communication service delivery pricing model may beperformed by hardware components or may be embodied inmachine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor programmed with theinstructions to perform the steps. Alternatively, the steps may beperformed by a combination of hardware and software.

The communication service delivery pricing model may be provided as acomputer program product, or software, that may include amachine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which may beused to program a computer system (or other electronic devices) toperform a process according to the present teachings. A machine readablemedium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information ina form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine(e.g., a computer). The machine-readable medium may include, but is notlimited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette); opticalstorage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read onlymemory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory(e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; electrical, optical, acousticalor other form of propagated signal (e.g., carrier waves, infraredsignals, digital signals, etc.); or other type of medium suitable forstoring electronic instructions.

To provide for interaction with a user, the invention can be implementedon a device, such as, a computer system having a display device such asa CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing devicesuch as a mouse or a trackball by which the user can provide input tothe computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide forinteraction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to theuser can be any form of sensory feedback, such as visual feedback,auditory feedback, or haptic feedback; and input from the user can bereceived in any form, including acoustic, speech, or haptic input.

The communication service delivery pricing model may also be practicedin distributed computing environments where the machine readable mediumis stored on and/or executed by more than one computer system. Inaddition, the information transferred between computer systems mayeither be pulled or pushed across the communication medium connectingthe computer systems. In various embodiments, the communication servicedelivery pricing model may be described in terms of algorithms andsymbolic representations of operations on data bits that may be storedwithin a memory and operated on by a processor.

An exemplary embodiment of a communication service delivery pricingmodel that can be used, for valuing the media and content-drivendifferentiation of the service level experience for voice, video, and/ordata by the end user, is illustrated in FIG. 2.

The present teachings relate to devices and methods of a communicationservice delivery pricing model for pricing broadband wireline, cellularand/or wireless services based on the end user's service experience, andnot the bandwidth or the service form such as voice, video, or data.Thereby, allowing the end user to select a service level experience anduse it for simultaneous sessions such as a voice session, a videosession, a data session, multimedia or a combination voice, video,multimedia, and data session from a single end user communication deviceon the network. This single end user communication device should possessthe capabilities to support multiple simultaneous sessions orconnections or the device should be capable of being configured tosupport multiple simultaneous sessions or connections. The presentteaching permits delivery of the communication service experience withina wide-area broadband wireline and/or cellular network or within aprivate broadband wireline and/or wireless network (e.g., within aresidential home, business enterprise, city, etc.) where the end userhas a communication device that is capable of supporting, for example,broadband wireline and/or wireless communication for voice, video,and/or data services. The device and method allow for multipleexperience levels for voice, video, and data or combinations of theseservice experience levels as a function of price. An example of this fora voice application is low bit rate voice, standard voice, high qualityvoice, stereophonic voice, as a function of price, where the end user'sservice price is based on the service experience level selected by theend user on a continuous basis or on a per session or transaction basis.

This communication service pricing model may be configured to providethe same communication service for these various experience levelsthrough a unique broadband access service portal design that allows anycapable end user device to dynamically connect to broadband private orpublic wireless networks or to private or public wireline networks andprovide the same service level experience as a function of price.

An exemplary embodiment of a Quality of Experience (QoE) model 200 thatcan be used, for example, to price communication and informationalservices based on the QoE that an end user receives from a network isillustrated in FIG. 2. The exemplary embodiment of the QoE model 200removes bandwidth as the key limiting factor, which is typically used inexisting pricing and QoS service delivery models. The QoE model 200 canbe configured based upon a hybrid fiber-wireless network design 300 (forexample, as shown in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3), which removesthe current restriction of bandwidth such that communication networkprocessing and information network processing are completelytransparent. Namely, the end user's experience is not determined by thetype of network used to deliver the services, rather, by the desiredlevel of experience that the end user perceives when the service isreceived by the end user.

The QoE model 200 may be configured based on one or more dimensions thatcontrol the services from the perspective of the perception of thesensation that the end user experiences when the service is delivered,i.e., the service experience. For example, QoE model 200 may be based onfour dimensions of service experience, such as a mobility dimension, anaudio dimension, a visual dimension, and a velocity dimension. Thedesign of the exemplary SMS network 300, as shown in FIG. 3, enables theQoE dimensions of FIG. 2 to be integrated into a service delivery andpricing model such that the end user can be billed for the QoE servicelevel received, rather than a voice, video, or data service that isbased upon the QoS of a network connection which is typically a functionof bandwidth and other service feature parameters.

For example, the mobility experience dimension 201 can be designed tomeasure the degree of mobility of a particular service such as audio“voice”, visual “video” or velocity “speed of data” as the servicetravels from one environment, such as within a building on a “SmallCell” based Broadband Wireless Network, to another environment, such asoutdoors in a wide-area “Large Cell” based wireless network environment.The mobility experience dimension 201 can be configured so that thenetwork has the capability to dynamically adjust the bandwidth and otherradio channel parameters to ensure that the QoE Service Level priced tothe end-user is maintained throughout a requested communication sessionor transaction as the device transitions from one wireless networkenvironment to another.

Another example is that the audio experience dimension 202 can bedesigned to measure the quality of an auditory signal delivered to theend user when the user requests to listen to an audio transmission suchas monophonic sound, stereophonic sound, multi-channel sound, and thelike. One feature of the audio experience dimension 202 is the abilityto increase the pleasure of the audible range of sound in a manner thatenhances and improves the quality of sound as perceived by the end-user.This feature enables the user to dynamically vary the QoE listeninglevels as a function of price.

A further example is that the visual experience dimension 203 can bedesigned to measure the quality of viewing a motion picture delivered tothe end user, wherein the motion picture can be broadcasted according toa format such as standard definition television, high definitiontelevision, HD 480p, HD 720p, HD 1080p, and the like. One aspect of thevisual experience dimension is to provide the ability to increase theuser's viewing pleasure, for example, of a motion picture in a mannerthat enhances and improves the viewer's perception by enabling the userto dynamically vary the QoE viewing levels on demand as a function ofprice for the service.

Another example is that the velocity experience dimension 204 can bedesigned to measure the speed of viewing data or information deliveredto the end-user to determine how rapid a specific unit of data can bedisplayed on a screen for viewing such as one megabyte per second, tenmegabyte per second, one hundred megabyte per second, and the like. Oneof the features of the velocity experience dimension 204 is to increasethe user's pleasure of viewing data or information as a function ofspeed that enhances the user's perception while viewing the requestedunit of data by varying the QoE speed levels as a function of price ofthe service. It should be understood that the QoE dimensions shown anddescribed with reference to FIG. 2 are nonlimiting and exemplary. Thoseskilled in the art would understand that other features of the networkmay be envisioned as QoE dimensions without departing from the scope ofthe present teachings.

In one or more embodiments, the multi-services network design andtechnology 300, such as shown for example in FIG. 3, facilitates theintegration of the service dimensions, for example shown in FIG. 2, toprovide services to the end user based upon a predefined or customizedQoE Service Level (QSL) concept. The QSL feature of the presentteachings enables the service providers of SMS networks to deliverservices that are based on the QoE paradigm which is designed orconfigured to stimulate human perception of the information andcommunication service experience. The level of service provided by eachQSL can be configured by dynamically selecting and varying differentparameters such as voice codec, video code, wired bandwidth speeds, andwireless bandwidth channels to uniquely configure a QSL to match an enduser's request for a unique and user-specific converged information andcommunication service experience. One of the metrics that can be definedfor measuring the end users satisfaction with a communication serviceexperience on a SMS network can be referred to as the Latency QualityIndex (LQI) Rating. When the user initially registers with the network,the LQI can be used as a means for the user to test and sample thevarious QoE service levels provided by the network. This LQI can also beemployed within the SMS network to provide a means for measuring theexperience that a particular user experiences on the network during adynamic service transaction as a function of time measured, for example,in seconds, network resources utilized and physical location. This QoEmeasurement system and method may be configured, for example, to providemultiple QSL service levels such as QoE Silver Service, QoE GoldService, QoE Platinum Service and/or QoE Custom Engineered servicelevels. In this example, the prices can be established such that theyincrease as the service level increases such as starting from a silverlevel service to a gold level service. By way of example, one dimensionof the QoE Silver Service can be defined having a LQI range of x to ymilliseconds with a statistical variation of plus or minus zmilliseconds; the QoE Gold Service can be defined having a LQI range ofx to y milliseconds with a statistical variation of plus or minus zmilliseconds; the QoE Platinum Service can be defined having a LQI rangeof x to y milliseconds with a statistical variation of plus or minus zmilliseconds; and QoE Custom Engineered Service can be defined having aLQI range of x to y milliseconds with a statistical variation of plus orminus z milliseconds, where the x, y and z parameters are defined todifferentiate between the different QoE Levels. This approach allows theend user to uniquely value a service experience such that a pricingmodel for converged information and communication service on a SMSnetwork can be established based on QSLs, and not on the QoS of acommunication service connection that is provided on different types ofnetworks, such as the PSTN, broadcast cable networks, wireless networks,Internet, etc.

The predefined QSLs may be classified, for example, as silver, gold orplatinum levels. In such an example, the QSL for a platinum level ofservice may be higher than a gold level of service, and the gold levelof service may be higher than a silver level of service as a result ofthe QLI. In such an arrangement, a user selecting their level of servicewill be allowed to choose between these predefined levels of serviceparameters. The SMS network permits the user to initially test andsample the different QSL levels during registration in order to assistthe user in deciding which level based on cost is the most appropriatelevel of services. The SMS further provides the user with the ability tocontinuously modify or change the QSL Level initially selected. Duringthe use of the service in response to a request for a predefined QSL,the network may automatically vary one or more of the level of serviceparameters during the transmission or communication session to guaranteethat the end user receives the experience that corresponds to theselected QSL. In addition, the SMS network design 300 affords the enduser the ability to customize their level of services through the use ofself-provisioning capabilities under control of the end user. This enduser self-provisioning network capability allows the customization ofend user's service features to be managed and controlled by the end userto meet the individual needs of the end user as a function of time andphysical location. This self-provisioning service customizationcapability may be offered as an alternative or in conjunction with thepredefined levels of service provisioned by the network owner. Forexample, in some embodiments, the system may provide the user theability to select the predefined levels for some services and allow theuser to customize other types of service parameters. During the use ofthe service in the customization embodiments, the network may enable theuser to specifically select, control, and vary the service levelparameters prior to the transmission, as well as during the transmissionor session. For example, if the user wishes to modify any of the QoEdimensions to change their current experience level during the requestedtransmission, using the network, the user can dynamically vary one ormore service level parameters as a part of the service policy managementcapability of the SMS network. If the user initially elects to customizehis or her services during registration but later wishes to select oneof the predefined QSLs, the SMS enables the user to reconfigure theinitial set-up to select one of the predefined QSLs.

The system and method may employ a network architecture configured, suchas, for example, a Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW) Network. The networkarchitecture can be based on IP networking or Ethernet networking overHFW networks. The network architecture can also be based on the use ofEthernet over fiber such as Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Networks(GEPONs) and can connect the GEPONs to Broadband “Small Cell” basedcellular networks, which are referred to as CelluLAN® networks. Thecombination of these two different types of network architectures, theGEPONs and the CelluLAN® networks, provides a converged (SMS) network,which may be referred to as a Broadband Mobility Hybrid Fiber-WirelessNetwork. This network design removes the restriction on bandwidth forinformation and communication services delivered for both wired andwireless services to end user devices. By enabling seamlessly IPnetworking between both the GEPONs and the Broadband “Small Cell” basedCelluLAN® network, a SMS network can be provided that facilitates thedesign and delivery of QSLs. The HFW networks can be implemented byusing Gigabit fiber Ethernet within the core network design, as shownfor example in FIG. 3 as the National Fiber Transport Network, 306, andutilizing HFW networks for local access network design based on GEPONsand CelluLAN® as shown for example in FIG. 3 as the Local BroadbandMultimedia HFW Access Network 305, 311.

As shown in the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 3, the SMS Networks can bedesigned to be multi-level hierarchical networks wherein the networkarchitecture is capable of being scaled or built from very small localSMS networks to very large national or international SMS networks topermit the sharing of common SMS Network services and resources amongend users of the SMS Network at different levels of the networkhierarchy. Various network hierarchical levels are illustrated in FIG. 8as local, regional, national and international levels. One feature ofthese types of networks is the ability of the SMS Network to allow endusers at the same or at different levels that have a common interest oran affinity to each other to dynamically share the network servicesand/or resources that support that common interest. Sharing servicesand/or resources hosted on the network reduces cost, increases theaccess speed to information, and/or improves or simplifies the abilityof the end users with a common interest to easily collaborate with andamong each other. As depicted in the example of FIG. 8, the lowest levelof the SMS Network hierarchy is referred to as the Local Level which canbe an enterprise building network, a home network, and/or a community orneighborhood network. These Local Level SMS Networks can be designedsuch that they are scaled or built to very large national orinternational networks depending on the end users' common interest oraffinity to each other. The SMS Networks at any level can be establishedas public or private network or a combination of public and privatenetwork depending on the end user community for which the network isdesigned. These SMS Networks can be clustered together to form differenttypes of networks for different purposes such as connecting twodifferent communities within a particular region of a country that havea common affinity to each other. For example, two biomedicaluniversities located at a local level in Atlanta that share resourceshosted on a local network can be clustered together with anotherbiomedical university located at a local level in North Carolina to forma biomedical research consortium that has shared access of a commondatabase that hosts research information at a regional that is of acommon interest to all three universities. This example illustrates anSMS Clustered Network designed as a Regional SMS Network that supportstwo or more Local Community SMS Networks with Local Shared Services andResources within each Local Community SMS Network for the purpose ofallowing the end users within the local community network to sharenetwork services and resource. After initially building the local level,adding a next level of hierarchy to the network design, in this example,forms a Regional SMS Network where all of the network services andresources that are common to all the communities are shared at aregional level which can be referred to as a Regional SMS Network withRegional Shared Service and Resources. This scaling approach can beexpanded to build a network from the lowest level to a higher level toform, for example, National SMS Networks, International SMS Network, asshown, for example, in FIG. 8. This approach can also be extended orexpanded to use other similar techniques or non-geographical techniquesto build and design Clustered SMS Networks.

When Local SMS Networks are designed within a Clustered SMS Networkconfiguration, they are typically architected to internetwork with eachother through the highest level of the Clustered SMS NetworkArchitecture such as at the regional level, national level,international level, etc. This approach is used to optimize the use ofLocal, Regional, National, and International Network Shared Services andResources. This approach further allows end user to reduce their costbecause a local end user can share services with different groups of endusers at the local, regional, national or international levels as theend user's service and/or resource requires. Another important dimensionof SMS Networks is the ability to connect to other SMS Network and/orLegacy Communication Networks such as the PSTN, Cellular, Cable,Wireless, etc. The ability to connect to various types of SMS Networksand Legacy Networks facilitates the exchange of the end users'information or the establishment of communication sessions connectionsbetween the end users within an SMS Network to other end users within aLegacy Communication Network. The connectivity between the various typesof networks can be implemented using Gateway Service Nodes (GSNs). TheseGSNs are designed to perform network protocol conversion, which allowsdifferent networks to interact with each other without changing theirinternal networking protocols. These GSNs typically exist at the highestlevel of the SMS Network Architectural design. However, a GSN can existwithin a Local SMS Network, if the requirement for the network design isto allow the exchange of end users information, to connect communicationsessions between end users at the Local SMS Network Level, or allow aLocal SMS Network to connect to other end users within a LegacyCommunication Network. In FIG. 8, the GSN are shown at theinternational, national, regional, and local level as InternationalService Nodes (ISNs), National Service Nodes (NSNs), Regional ServiceNodes (RSNs), and Local Service Nodes (LSNs).

In general, the exemplary network environment in FIG. 3 is configuredbased on the “virtualization” concept. The network environment may beconfigured to include one or more local shared services networks 340,350 and global shared services networks 360. A local shared servicesnetwork 340, 350 can be configured to provide virtual individualsecurity zones (Virtual DMZs) for shared services among users physicallylocated within a defined local area or community, such as a particularbuilding, college campus, business complex, a defined geographic region,such as New York City. Through the use of virtualization, users connectto the local shared services network 340, 350 to access virtual securityzones to share services or resources that are commonly needed among theusers. With the use of security zone virtualization software, a hardwarecomputing platform can serve as a common hardware computing environmentwhich allows multiple enterprises, such as several business enterprises,to share the cost of commonly used software applications, thereby,reducing the cost to each business enterprise. The advantage of thislocal shared services concept is the use of virtualization technology toprovide the ability to run multiple virtual DMZ machines on a singlehosted hardware platform within a locally shared computing environment.Virtualization enables multiple servers spread across an enterprise toshare applications and databases along with other infrastructure andresources within the virtual DMZ. This reduces the number of actualservers and hardware devices required to be purchased and maintained bythe business enterprise, which reduces infrastructure and maintenancecost. Similar to the concept of a local shared services network 340,350, a global shared services network 360 can be configured to provideshared services among users connected to the network, wherein the usersare not physically located within a local community, but are a part of acommon business segment such as law firms, real estate firms, andfinancial firms. In other words, the global shared services enable userlocated at various locations to access shared services or resourcesbased on the similarity of their business enterprise segmentation. Thesetypes of shared services networks are referred to as “adhoc” sharedservices network within the context of SMS networks.

The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3 illustrates two local shared servicesnetworks 340, 350 and a single global shared services network 360. InFIG. 3, the first local shared services network 340 can be configured toinclude, for example, Local Broadband Multimedia HFW Network (LBMHN)305; service application managers such as Software as a Service (SaaS)312, Content as a Service (CaaS) 314, and Platform as a Service (PaaS)313; databases such as Consumer and Merchant Global Service IdentityDatabase Managers, 318, 319; and end user devices such as cellulardevice 304, a PSTN phone 303, a personal computer 302, and a television301. The second local shared services network 350 in FIG. 3 can beconfigured to include, for example, Local Broadband Multimedia HFWNetwork (LBMHN) 311; service application managers such as Software as aService (SaaS) 315, Content as a Service (CaaS) 317, and Platform as aService (PaaS) 316; databases such as Consumer and Merchant GlobalService Identity Database Managers, 320, 321; and end user devices suchas cellular device 307, a PSTN phone 308, a personal computer 309, and atelevision 310. As mentioned above, the global shared services network360 operates on the same principles with similar components asassociated with the local shared services network. One minor differenceis that, typically, end user devices do not connect directly to theglobal shared services network 360, because they can only gain access tothe global shared services network 360 and resources through theiraccess connections within the local shared services network 340, 350. InFIG. 3, the exemplary global shared services network 360 is illustratedas the National Fiber Transport Network with application servercapabilities 306; however, the details of the specific components of theprocessors, mass storage and various other devices have been omitted forthe sake of clarity.

In FIG. 3, during use, for example, at the local shared services network340, 350, the system operates as a distributed network capable ofenabling users of a local community to access virtual security zones toshare services and resources on a local shared service hardware platformusing virtualization software technology. According to the presentteachings, the network enable users to access the shared servicesnetwork and resources such as the SaaS, CaaS, PaaS service applicationmanagers by paying an agreed upon service fee, for example, a monthlyrental fee. The security zone virtualization software application of thenetwork provides the user with the appearance of possessing the actualhardware and software capabilities provided by the local shared servicesresources and application software. Actually, a virtual machine thatimplements the virtualization concept is an abstraction of an actualphysical computer system. In the present teachings, the DMZ virtualmachine of the users can be installed on a host hardware platform, whichcan include system hardware, and one or more layers or co-residentcomponents comprising system-level software, such as an operating systemand other software applications. The present network can be configuredsuch that the hardware can be shared as a common software resource, andthe software is virtually partitioned into individual security zones orvirtual DMZs to serve each individual business enterprise. Thevirtualization software technology enables partitioning and secureisolation of each individual business enterprise virtual softwareenvironment, which gives the appearance that each business enterprisehas access to its own private software and hardware application system.The users of the local shared services networks can access and obtainthe local shared services resources, which are provided as a pool ofcommon services and resources. If a service or resource is unavailableon the local shared network 340, 350, the user can then seek to accessthe pool of shared services offered on a regional, a national, or aglobal shared services network 360, as illustrated in FIG. 3 to obtainsuch services and resources.

Specific details of the components of FIG. 3 will now be furtherdescribed. The Local Access Networks can be configured as the networksthat control the delivery of converged information and communicationservices either wired or wirelessly through the use of local accessservice nodes that support the identity of the end user databases suchas Consumer and Merchant Global Service Identity Database Managers, aswell as Software as a Service (SaaS) 312, 315, Content as a Service(CaaS) 314, 317, and Platform as a Service (PaaS) 313, 316 serviceapplication managers. The Consumer and Merchant Global Service IdentityDatabase Managers 318, 319, 320, and 321 can be designed to allow thenetwork to assign a single Global Service Identity (GSI) to allend-users within the network for the purpose of accessing, requesting,and receiving services. The GSI Database Managers, 318, 319, 320, 321,can also be used to facilitate the end user policy managementcapabilities of the SMS network by allowing the end user to executenetwork based transactions based on the LQI which can control the QoEfor the end user on the network. In addition, the Global ServiceIdentities (GSIs) Database Managers 318, 319, 320, 321, can beconfigured or architected to allow all GSIs to communicate with eachother directly without the use of intermediaries for the purpose ofsocial networking or e-commercial networking. The GSIs can also be usedas a security feature for an end-user to control his or her personalidentity on the network by restricting access to secure informationabout the individual who is identified by a particular GSI. The GSIs canalso be used to instruct the network to perform tasks or transactions atthe request of the GSI. By way of example, the task or transaction mayinclude searching for, retrieving and displaying information regarding aparticular product or service on the network for the GSI in real-time asa function of a physical location while the GSI is mobile and travelingfrom one location to another location. Another example is that the taskor transaction may include searching for, retrieving, and displayinginformation regarding the discounted sale price of a particular productor service on the network for the GSI as a function of the specificphysical location of the GSI within the network. The GSIs can beassigned such that the end user is represented, for example, as apredefined commercial entity depending upon the type of servicerequested by the end user. For example, the GSI can be defined by theMerchant Service Identity Database Manager 318, 320 as a merchant withinone or more of the Merchant Service Identity Provisioning Databases 322,323 or defined as a consumer by the Consumer Service Identity DatabaseManager 319, 321 within one or more Consumer Service IdentityProvisioning Databases 324, 325. The features and services of theMerchant Service Identity Database Manager 318 and 320 and the ConsumerService Identity Database Manager 319 and 321 will be described infurther details below.

Furthermore, the present teachings provides a peer-to-peer relationshipthat converges the benefits of a hierarchy network with a flat IPprotocol network so that any point can be virtually connected to anotherpoint in the network. The SMS network virtually connects points withinthe network by leveraging the Internet protocol to combine thehierarchal capabilities of a switch network with a flat IP network.Thus, the SMS network creates a hybrid-formed network havinghierarchical capabilities in combination with the flat IP network. Thepeer-to-peer networking capability of the SMS network allows aMulti-Network Client (MNC) device to travel to a foreign network and bevirtually connected back to its home SMS network, thereby, allowing theMNC device to utilize the network local shared resources and servicesthat are supported by the MNC device's home SMS network. These foreignnetworks can be other SMS networks or legacy networks such as the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), Cable Networks, Cellular Networks, IPPacket Networks, etc. This SMS Network peer-to-peer networkingcapability can utilizes one or more signaling network protocols toperform this peer-to-peer networking feature. For example, which are theSIGTRAN IP networking protocol for IP networks like the SMS network andthe SS7 circuit switch network signaling protocols for circuit switchnetworks like the PSTN and Cellular Networks can be used to perform thesignaling interworking to allow these two different types of networks topeer with each other. If the foreign network is an IP Packet Switchingnetwork or another SMS network, which is also an IP network, they thesenetworks will peer automatically because they use the same IP networksignaling protocols. However, if the foreign network is a legacy circuitswitch network then the SIGTRAN IP networking protocol can be used toconvert the SS7 signaling messages into IP signaling messages, thereby,allowing an MNC device that is physically connected to a circuit switchnetworks like the PSTN and Cellular Networks to be virtually connectedto and IP network like the SMS Network.

The SMS Network peer-to-peer capability can be activated once a MNCdevice, which is registered as a device with its Home SMS Network,travels to another network (e.g., a foreign network), and then requestsservice from its Home SMS Network. The MNC device must request serviceaccess from the foreign network. Once service access is granted by theforeign network. The foreign network launches a SS7 broadcast of a SS7signaling message to all networks that are connected to the PublicSwitched SS7 Signaling Network which includes all Circuit SwitchNetworks as well as IP Network if they are equipment equipped withNetwork Signaling Nodes that support the SIGTRAN internetworking IPsignaling protocol such as SMS Networks. Once the SS7 network broadcasta SS7 signaling message from a foreign network and it is received by thehome SMS Network of an MNC device, the home SMS Network of the MNCdevice acknowledges that the MNC device that is requesting servicewithin the foreign network is registered as a device with its network.This home SMS Network's acknowledgement process launches the SMSnetwork's peer-to-peer networking capability which allows the MNCdevice's home SMS Network to establish a peer-to-peer connection betweenthe MNC device's home SMS Network with the foreign network where accessservices is being requested by the MNC device. Once the network peeringinterworking acknowledgment process is complete, a virtual accessconnection from the MNC device via the foreign network to the home SMSnetwork for access to local shared resources and services within thehome SMS network is activated, thereby, allowing all authorized servicesfor the MNC device to be directly accessible from its home SMS Network.While the SMS network provides the MNC device the ability to access andshare the resources and services provided by the home SMS network whenlocated within the boundary of the foreign network, as illustrated inFIG. 6, the QoE Service Level that will be available for the MNC deviceaccess connection will be based on the LQI performance requirementprovided by the foreign network. Although, the above example describes adevice traveling from an SMS network to a foreign network configured asa legacy circuit switch network, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that various modifications and variations can be made to thepresent disclosure without departing from the scope of its teachings. Byway of example, in some embodiments, the device can travel from onecircuit switch network to another circuit switch network or from an IPnetwork to another IP network. In other embodiments, the device cantravel from a circuit switch network to an IP network.

In general, using the SaaS 312 and 315, CaaS 314 and 317, and PaaS 313and 316, the system and method can provide on-demand delivery ofservices by the SMS network. For example, the SaaS 312 and 315, whichincludes application servers 326, can provide software deployment foruse as a service on demand with complete real-time digital rightsmanagement capability. The CaaS 314 and 317, which includes contentserver 328, can provide the management of hardware and software for thedelivery of telecommunications as content services on demand withcomplete real-time digital rights management capability. The serviceapplication managers can be configured to include built-in DigitalRights Management (DRM) capabilities that allow the GSI owners of thesoftware and content to directly and remotely manage the servicedelivery process for these services while protecting the software andcontent from piracy when the software and/or content is used by anotherGSI on the network or directly on the GSI's end user device. The PaaS313 and 316, which includes storage server 327, can facilitate thedeployment of applications and network platforms for use as a service ondemand capability with complete security management that allows theowner of the application to directly remove the application from thenetwork and/or the GSI's end user device via remote management of theapplication once the use of the application is completed by the GSI on atransaction by transaction case. In various embodiments, the SaaS 312,315, CaaS 314, 317, and PaaS 313, 316, service application managers canbe designed to support a variety of services that are provided by theSMS network, for example, such as renting software, renting computingand computer periphery resources (e.g., centralized computing machines,printers, data storages, etc.), renting content (e.g., movies, liveconcerts, lectures, television, etc.) and renting online applications(e.g., computer games, live games, video conference, etc.) as a functionof an end user's request and physical location. The Local BroadbandMultimedia HFW Network, shown, for example, in FIG. 3 can be publiclyowned or privately owned. This arrangement permits, for example, a homeowner, a small business, or an enterprise level business to own,operate, and control their personalized private HFW networks. Theseprivate HFW networks can be configured with service node capabilities,which afford these networks the ability to perform Service-CentricPolicy Management functions, shared services and resources as well asthe ability to connect to a publicly provided HFW network such that theprivate networks can establish peer-to-peer connections with otherprivate HFW networks for internetworking and exchanging of informationbetween privatively peered networks to form adhoc SMS private sharedservices networks.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present teachings as shownin FIG. 3, the SMS HFW network 300 for delivery of QSLs may include aNational Fiber Transport Network (NFTN) 306 connected to one or moreLocal Broadband Multimedia networks (LBMHN) 305, 311. For the SMS HFWnetwork 300, the NFTN 306 may serve as the core gigabit fiber Ethernetnetwork, which utilizes fiber optics for multiple interconnectionswithin the backhaul segment of the network. In some embodiments, theNFTN 306 may utilize fiber optics for all interconnections. In such anetwork, this configuration ensures that any bandwidth requirement forthe requested QSL can be provided by the NFTN networks on a real-timedemand basis. One of the primary functions of the NFTN is to enablepeering of all LBMHNs 305 and 311 to ensure that the real-time bandwidthon-demand requirement is met for QLS service delivery. It should beunderstood that the LBMHNs shown and described with reference to FIG. 3are nonlimiting and exemplary only. Those skilled in the art wouldunderstand that various configurations and numerous LBMHNs may beenvisioned without departing from the scope of the present teachings.

The LBMHN 305 and 311 may provide local wireline and wireless servicesaccess which controls the delivery of converged information andcommunication service either wired or wireless through the use of localaccess service nodes that supports the identity of the end userdatabases such as the Consumer Service Identity Database Managers 318and 320, and Merchant Service Identity Database Managers 319 and 320 aswell as Software as a Service (SaaS) 312 and 315, Content as a Service(CaaS) 314 and 317, and Platform as a Service (PaaS) 313 and 316,service application managers. Wireline and wireless service access maybe established with the network using one or more access devices, forexample, such as a cellular device 304, 307, a personal computer 302,309, a PSTN phone 303, 308, and a television 301, 310.

As discussed above, the Consumer and Merchant Service Identity DatabaseManagers 318, 319, 320, and 321 can be configured to allow all end-usersof the network to be assigned a single GSI within the network for thepurpose of accessing services. The GSIs Database Managers can beconfigured or architected to allow all GSIs to communicate with eachother for the purpose of social networking or conducting electroniccommercial (e-Commercial) networking. The GSIs can also be used as asecurity feature for an end-user to control his or her personal identityon the network by restricting access to secure information about theindividual who is identified by a particular GSI. For example, the taskmay include searching for, retrieving, and displaying informationregarding a particular product or service on the network for the GSI.Another example is that the task may include searching for, retrieving,and displaying information regarding the discounted sale on a particularproduct or service on the network for the GSI as a function of theparticular physical location of the GSI within a particular LBMHNnetwork.

Reference will be made to exemplary flow charts and diagrams of FIGS.4-10 to describe how the QSLs are provisioned, priced, and processed.Although the embodiment of FIGS. 4-10 illustrate the manner in whichservices may be obtained, the present teachings is not limited to thesale offers for services and for generating sale offers for types ofservices. Instead, the present teachings also relate to sale offers thatmay be generated and accepted for particular types of goods and saleoffers for goods in general.

The Quality of Experience Service Model Provisioning, Pricing, Deliveryand Management Algorithm

One of the features of the SMS HFW network according to the presentteachings is the simplification of the process as to how customers andservices are provisioned by using the self-provisioning capabilities ofthe SMS network under the control of and by the GSI. This differs fromthe approach of conventional networks in which the provisioning andpricing of communication services provided by the networks are notaligned with their networks' resource utilization as a function of bothtime and physical location where the service provisioning function isunder the control of the GSI through the use of the network policymanagement capabilities of the SMS network. Currently, many conventionalnetworks provision their customers based on the service type that thecustomer request, such as Internet access, voice services, videoservices, etc. and then assign the services to each customer's identity.Typically, once the service type has been assigned and priced to thecustomer, the service provider starts the process of pricing and sellingadd-on features and capabilities to the original services. For example,the provisioning of voice services by service providers enables theservice provider to initially sell a voice service and immediately startthe process of selling add-on features and capabilities such as callwaiting, three-way calling, caller ID, etc. From the service providers'perspective, this conventional approach enables the service provider tosell their customers a basic service, such as a voice service offered ata good Quality of Service (QoS), for an initial low price and then touse the add-on features that are critical to making the service trulyvaluable to the customer as a way to increase the overall price of theservice to the customer. However, there are several major drawbacks withthis approach.

The first drawback of this conventional approach is that it requires theservice providers to speculate in advance which features or add-oncapabilities may be valuable to their customers and develop thesespeculated features as parameters on the network before the serviceprovider can actually track and monitor their customers' usage patternto determine which add-on features the customers are actually willing topay for the additional charged fees. The SMS network can be designed toprovide basic session's connectivity between and two or multiple enduser devices on the network which allows the GSI to automaticallyprovision any additional features and/or capability to a basic session'sconnectivity through the use of the network policy managementcapabilities of the SMS network all under the control of the GSI. Thisself-provisioning approach eliminates the cost of service featureprovisioning by the owner of the network and other associated cost,because the function is performed by the GSI. In addition, the GSI isnot charged for the utilization of sessions or session features on thenetwork, because the charge to the GSI is based on the QLS service levelwhich was selected by the GSI, when the GSI was originally provisionedon the network by the owner of the network.

Another related drawback with the conventional approach is that in manycases the pricing for the features have little or no correlation betweenthe cost of services charged by the service providers and the networkresources required to support the features provided to the customers.Typically, as the pattern of a customer's usage of the same serviceschanges over time, it becomes apparent to the customer that the featureswere initially arbitrarily priced, which causes the customer to loseconfidence in the pricing algorithm of the service provider and as aresult causes the service provider to continue to lower the price of theservice or service feature over time to prevent its customers fromswitching to a different service provider. The SMS network eliminatesthe need for this pricing approach because the GSI controls the sessionfeature provisioning process and therefore, the pricing in real-time dueto the self-provisioning capabilities of the SMS network. As such, theGSI is not charged based on the use of these sessions or sessionfeatures, but charged based on the QLS service level that was selectedby the GSI, when the GSI was originally provisioned on the network bythe owner of the network.

An additional drawback is that the conventional approach which forcesevery customer to use the features in the same manner ignores the basicprinciple that each customer is unique and the customer's service needsmost likely will change as a function of time, degree of mobility, andphysical location. The conventional approach to the design of networkservices feature implementation, for example, voice, data, or videoservice's features, are based on treating the voice, data, or videoservice as having a fix allocation of network resources and as suchthese services cannot be changed or modified in real-time or by theuser. Therefore, the voice, data, or video services' features can onlywork in the manner in which they were originally designed for a givennetwork. The SMS network eliminates these restrictions because the SMSnetwork utilizes a standard session connectivity approach which is thesame for any service type or form such as voice, data, video, and/ormultimedia service. In addition, the present teachings enable the GSI toutilize the network self-provisioning policy management capabilities ofthe SMS network to design and/or provision any service featurecapabilities required for a voice, data, and/or multimedia servicesession. This capability allows each GSI to uniquely configure their ownfeatures and capabilities for any voice, data, video, and/or multimediaservice session within the SMS network customized to the GSI'srequirement for use. For example, conventional call-waiting programs areprovided to every customer in the same manner. The end user is presentedwith a take-it-or-leave-it situation with no options to modify theparameters, terms and conditions as to how the end user receives thecall-waiting feature. Therefore, the PSTN network is fixed and rigid. Incontrast, the present teachings enable customers to customize theirindividual features. The self-provisioning capability enables customer Ato establish its call-waiting parameters in a manner that differs fromcustomer B such that the SMS network answers the call waiting calls forcustomer A differently than call waiting calls customer B. For example,customer A's call-waiting parameters can be configured by customer Asuch that, if a call from a predefined telephone number of a businessassociate is received while customer A is conducting another telephoneconversation, the SMS network can be program to play the message, “I'mcurrently on another call which should be completed shortly. Please callback in 10 minutes.” Another example is that, when calls are receivedfrom one or more telephone numbers within a specified group, such asfrom a member of the user's family, customer's A call-waiting parameterscan be configured to play the message, “I'm currently on the phone, butshould be home for dinner at 6:00 pm.” Although the above examplesrelate to the call-waiting feature of a network, it will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that various modifications and variations canbe made to the user-controlled, -managed, and -programmed capabilitiesof the SMS network without departing from the scope of its teachings. Byway of further examples, the present teachings of the SMS network canalso be applicable to the delivery of any type of Internet services suchas e-mail, downloading music, videos, television shows and movies, andthe delivery of electrical and water services provided to a residence orbusiness entity. Thus, the policy-centric SMS network enables the usersto set and define the policies to control how they receive servicesdelivered by the network. Intelligences and procedures are designedthroughout every component and element of the SMS network to permit theend users to define how the types of services and net work resourceswill be delivered to and used by each end user. In other words, the SMSallows the end user to customize the network to work according to theend user's needs.

In additional to changes within the customer's usage pattern of the sameservice, a customer's usage pattern can change from an existing serviceto a new, more technological advance service. For example, voiceservices were once considered by the network service providers as themost important communication service and as such all voice services werepriced at very high service pricing levels, non-negotiable pricinglevels although the voice services, as well as the voice supplementalservices such as call waiting, three-way calling, caller ID, requiredthe use of very limited network resources. However, once its customerusage patterns changed from voice services to mobility, messaging, andthe use of the Internet with cellular phone, the service provider, whileproviding its services based on a QoS platform, has had to substantiallyreduce the price for basic voice services to match the real networkresource utilization cost and as such provide voice supplementalservices such as call waiting, three-way calling, caller ID, etc. asfree services. Oftentimes, the needs of customers may change overtimeand the network may fail to adjust accordingly to its customers' needs.Therefore, the services provided to the network service provider'scustomers may become less valuable to the customer and as such thecustomer may place less value on having the service because the servicecannot be readily adapted to the customer's needs. However, the presentteachings enable customers to change the service LOGIC through theutilization of the network policy management capabilities of the SMSnetwork, such that the service can be easily adapted and customized tothe changing needs of the customer by the customer and as such be cancontinuously updated based on the customer's changing needs throughservice LOGIC that is readily available to the customer and manageableby the customer using the network policy management capabilities.

Use of the SMS HFW network according to the present teachings addressesthe drawbacks and problems of the pricing of communication services notbeing aligned with the network resource utilization of conventionalnetworks. The multi-service HFW network, in comparison to conventionalnetworks, redefines how communication services are delivered and priced.The design of low cost SMS HFW networks are based on Internet Protocol(IP) networking, which dramatically reduces the expense, time, andcomplexity of the network configuration such that the pricing ofcommunication services can more accurately match the real networkresource utilization. Various embodiments of the SMS HFW network alsoprovide an Intelligent Service Management (ISM) Platform which isconfigured with the flexibility to allow the customers to convenientlychange or modify their services as the customers' needs change over timethrough the utilization of the network based policy managementcapabilities of the SMS network, thereby, enabling the end userself-provisioning of network based communication services. The ISMPlatform design can be designed based on the Quality of Experience (QoE)of communication services, shown for example in FIG. 2, as opposed tothe conventional Quality of Service (QoS) for a communication connectionapproaches. This feature of the present teachings allows each customerto provision his or her own communication service experience byselecting a QoE Service Level (QSL) such as, for example, a silver,gold, or platinum level by using the ISM Platform, referred to as theService Access Manager (SAM) 312, 315. Alternatively or conjunctively invarious embodiments, the customer can use the SAM 312, 315 to customengineer his or her own communication service level experience.

The SAM 312, 315 can be designed to determine QSLs such as, for example,a silver, gold, or platinum level for each customer during the serviceself-provisioning process based upon the network resources required todeliver all communication sessions and transactions on the network for aparticular customer. For instance, the QSL silver, gold or platinumlevel service price calculated for one customer may differ from the QSLsilver, gold or platinum level service price calculated for anothercustomer. Using an algorithm such as a network resource pricingalgorithm, the SAM QSL provisioning algorithm can be designed to computethe minima network resources required to implement the QSL requested bythe customer and as a result allow the end user to automaticallyengineer their own communication service price. This capability allowthe end user to test and experiment with different types of serviceexperience settings that provided by the SMS communication network andautomatically select the best price that match the end user'scommunication needs at that particular time. The network resourcepricing algorithm can be based on one or more attributes such as thepricing for computer memory and storage resources, central processor andcontroller resources, transmission bandwidth resources, networkoperation support resources, customer care resource, etc. coupled withan overhead and profit mark-up. The SAM 312, 315 can manipulate thenumerical information and data associated with the relevant attributesto calculate the prices for the QSL communication services and toproduce a display indicating the prices available to the customer forcommunication service selection at that time.

However, as mentioned above, should the customer decide not to select acalculated QSL, the SAM 312, 315 enables the customer to customize hisor her own QSL. If a service price calculated at a particular servicelevel exceeds the affordability of the customer, the customer has theoption to select a different QSL or the customer can enter the SAMcustom engineering mode and custom engineer his or her own QSLcommunication service price to match customer's affordability. Once thecustomer has selected the QSL, the customer has the option to addfeatures and capabilities to his or her selected QSL and the SAM 312,315 will automatically recalculate the new price based on the networkresource pricing algorithm. The customer also has the option to re-enterthe SAM at anytime and change his or her QSL selection or any capabilityor add-on feature as the customer's needs and financial circumstanceschange.

The pricing model of the SMS network may be configured to provide thesame communication service for various experience levels through aunique broadband access service portal design that allows any capableend user device to dynamically connect through other broadband privateor public wireless networks or through other private or public wirelinenetworks and provide the same service level experience as a function ofprice via a secure connection. The SMS network enables each end user toprovision his or her own virtual network through the use of web portals.By provisioning their own networks, each end user establishes acommercial relationship with the owner of the SMS network.

The Quality of Experience Service Model Provisioning Process

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the features andoperations of the SAM for providing the service provisioning process.FIG. 4 illustrates steps used by the SAM 312, 315 to manipulate thenumerical information and data to calculate and produce the QSLs. TheSAM 312, 315 database can be configured to receive a personalizedidentifier, such as a QSL, that identifies the customer and receiveservice activation requests from the customer. Generally, as shown inFIG. 4, the process begins in Step 401 where the SAM serviceprovisioning algorithm determines what QSL level of service the end useris requesting. This process advances to Step 402 where it determineswhether the end user is requesting to be assigned Silver QSL service. Ifin Step 402, the service provisioning request is for the Silver QSLservice, the provisioning algorithm advances to Step 407 to initiate theSilver QSL services. At Step 407, the provisioning algorithm sets allnetwork parameters for QSL Silver Service Activation such as GlobalService Identity (GSI), GSI Secure Preferences (e.g., User Names, DialNumber, Address, etc), GSI Service Quality Preferences (e.g., VoiceCodec, Video Codec, Service Bandwidth, etc.), GSI Service FormPreferences (e.g., Voice, Data, Video, Multimedia, etc.), GSI ServiceProvisioning Preferences (e.g., Non-Provisioned Service, ProvisionService, Combination, etc.), and GSI Service Location Preferences (e.g.,fix service, mobility service, combination, etc.) within the CustomerQSL Service Attributes Database 412 for service Activation.

If in Step 402, the customer is not requesting the Silver QSL service,the provisioning algorithm proceeds to Step 403 and checks to determineif the customer is requesting to be assigned Gold QSL service. If inStep 403 the service provisioning request is for Gold QSL service, theprovisioning algorithm advances to Step 408 to initiate the Gold QSLservices. At Step 408, the provisioning algorithm sets all networkparameters for the QSL Gold Service Activation such as Service Identity(SI), SI Secure Preferences (e.g., User Names, Dial Number, Address,etc), SI Service Quality Preferences (e.g., Voice Codec, Video Codec,Service Bandwidth, etc.), SI Service Form Preferences (e.g., Voice,Data, Video, Multimedia, etc.), GSI Service Provisioning Preferences(e.g., Non-Provisioned Service, Provision Service, Combination, etc.),and GSI Service Location Preferences (e.g., fix service, mobilityservice, combination, etc.) within the Customer QSL Service AttributesDatabase, 412, for service Activation.

In Step 403 if the customer is not requesting Gold QSL service, theprovisioning algorithm advances to Step 404 and checks to determine ifthe customer is requesting to be assigned the Platinum QSL service. InStep 404 if the service provisioning request is for Platinum QSLservice, the provisioning algorithm initiate the process in Step 409 forthe Platinum QSL services by establishing all network parameters for QSLPlatinum Service Activation such as Global Service Identity (GSI), GSISecure Preferences (e.g., User Names, Dial Number, Address, etc), GSIService Quality Preferences (e.g., Voice Codec, Video Codec, ServiceBandwidth, etc.), GSI Service Form Preferences (e.g., Voice, Data,Video, Multimedia, etc.), SI Service Provisioning Preferences (e.g.,Non-Provisioned Service, Provision Service, Combination, etc.), and GSIService Location Preferences (e.g., fix service, mobility service,combination, etc.) within the Customer QSL Service Attributes Database412 for service Activation.

In Step 404 if the customer is not requesting the Platinum QSL service,the provisioning algorithm advances to Step 405 and checks to determineif the customer is requesting to be assigned Custom Engineered QSLservice. In Step 405, if the service provisioning request is for CustomEngineered QSL service, the provisioning algorithm initiates a CustomEngineered QSL process in Step 410. The provisioning algorithm in Step410 sets all network parameters for QSL Custom Engineered ServiceActivation that has been defined by the end user such as Global ServiceIdentity (GSI), GSI Secure Preferences (e.g., User Names, Dial Number,Address, etc), GSI Service Quality Preferences (e.g., Voice Codec, VideoCodec, Service Bandwidth, etc.), GSI Service Form Preferences (e.g.,Voice, Data, Video, Multimedia, etc.), GSI Service ProvisioningPreferences (e.g., Non-Provisioned Service, Provision Service,Combination, etc.), and GSI Service Location Preferences (e.g., fixservice, mobility service, combination, etc.) within the Customer QSLService Attributes Database 412 for service Activation.

If in Step 405 the customer is not requesting Custom Engineered QSLservice the Services provisioning the process ends at Step 406. Once allprovisioning parameters are set for the customers within the customerdatabase 412, the data is then used by the data mining and analyticssystem 411 for the purpose of collecting data regarding, for example, acustomer's usage patterns and the number of merchant transactionconducted by the customer as a function of time and physical location.The data mining and analytic system may also collect data in real-timesuch as recording the physical location where the merchant transactionoccurred by using the coordinates and information gathered by globalpositioning satellites (GPS) or other similar methods such as forexample cell site triangulation within private wireless access networksto collect data and/or to record the physical location where themerchant transaction occurred to offer real-time service discounting tothe customer. The real-time offerings can be implemented using the GPSor a similar method such as for example cell site triangulation withinprivate wireless access networks in conjunction with data comparisons ofthe customer's network transactions history. The system and method cantrack, collect and store data regarding the customer's networktransaction usage to establish each customer's buying pattern as afunction of time and physical location, etc. In various embodiments, theprocess in FIG. 4 may be configured to determine the customer's networkusage pattern prior to initiating the pricing algorithm. The pricingalgorithm can use data from the Customer QSL Service Attributes Database412 to compute pricing for the utilization of network resources.

The Service Access Manager (SAM) QSL Preferred Lowest Cost AutomaticPricing Algorithm

In accordance with the principles of the present teachings, FIG. 5 is anexemplary flow chart that illustrates the major processes of the SAMservice QSL preferred lowest cost automatic pricing algorithm, which isdetermined based on the end customer's QSL service level requirement.The Price Assignment Process Algorithm initiates the process in Step501, by first determining whether or not a customer has requested toreceive Silver, Gold, or Platinum QSL service. In Step 502, if thecustomer is a Silver, Gold, or Platinum QSL service level customer, theQSL Price Assignment Process Algorithm begins the Standard PriceAssignment Process in Step 503, by collecting Service Identity NetworkParameters from the Customer Database 508 to be used for the preferredpricing to the customer for service transactions. This approach ensuresthat the end customer always gets the lowest price for any standardservice transaction available via the Silver, Gold, or Platinum QSLservice level. In addition, the Standard Price Assignment Process, inStep 503, also assigns a Standard Pricing Factor that is a function ofthe number of financial transactions conducted by an end user occurringover a predetermined period of time such as a day, a week, a month,etc., which can be based on the customer's Network Resource UtilizationParameters for Silver, Gold, or Platinum QSL Services. Once the StandardPrice Assignment Process computes the Standard Pricing Factor in Step503, it then assigns a Customer Discount Pricing Factor based onspecified discount levels for network based merchant financialtransactions that have been completed by the customer and the value ofthose transactions over a predetermined period of time such as a day, aweek, a month, etc. The Standard Price Assignment Process in Step 503then checks for any additional Customized Service Charges in Step 504that may be attached to the service transaction depending on the endcustomer's request for additional services. If a customer requestsadditional customization of standard services in Step 504, then theprocess requests the Customized Price Assignment Process in Step 507 tocollect the Global Service Identity QSL Service Network Parameters fromthe Customer Database 508. The process then activates the customer inputdata analysis and price calculation process in Step 506 to compute aOne-time Customized Service Usage charge. In addition or in conjunctiontherewith, the process can set the One-time Customized Service Usagecharge calculation to be subsequently designated as the standard(per-time) usage charge and may then request an additional calculationfor a new Monthly Service Charges that can be stored in the CustomerDatabase 508 for use as the standard monthly service charge.

The process can conduct further data analysis in Step 506 based on thecustomer's historical usage data, which has been collected over time toprovide additional cost reductions based on the Standard PriceAssignment Process in Step 503 and/or the Customized Pricing AssignmentProcess in Step 507. The Customer's QSL Services Pricing and ServiceManagement Database 508 can also be configured to process and manage thecustomer's QSL service request, as well as additional customized servicerequests. If a customer declines the option to select the additionalcustomized service options, the process then activates the StandardPrice Calculation Process in Step 505 and enters for the customer astandard Monthly Service Charge, which is computed by the customer inputdata analysis and price calculation process in Step 506. The StandardPrice Calculation Process in Step 505 may also be configured to includeany discounts due to the customer based on historical usage data thathas been collected over time and stored in the Customer's QSL ServicesPricing and Service Management Database 508 and terminate the QSLservice pricing process.

The process can be configured such that a customer has the option toreject the Silver, Gold, or Platinum QSL service and, instead,requesting pricing for Custom Engineered Service in Step 509. Theprocess also provides the customer with the option not to accept theCustom Engineered Service option, and if so, the Price AssignmentProcess Algorithm ends in Step 510. However, if the customer accepts theCustom Engineered Service option in Step 509, the process activates theCustom Engineering Price Assignment Process in Step 513 such that theService Identity Network Parameters from the Customer's QSL ServicesPricing and Service Management Database 508 can be accessed and used forpreferred pricing to the customer for service transactions in Step 513.This approach ensures that the customer always gets the lowest price forany custom engineered service transaction available via the CustomEngineered QSL Service Level. In addition, the Custom Engineering PriceAssignment Process in Step 513 can also be configured by the SMS networkto assign a Pricing Factor which was selected based on the specificcustomer during the service provisioning process which can be determinedas a function of the number of financial transactions conducted by acustomer occurring over a predetermined period of time such as a day, aweek, a month, etc., which can also be based on the customer's NetworkResource Utilization Parameters for the Custom Engineered QSL Service.After computing the Custom Engineered Pricing Factor, the CustomEngineering Price Assignment Process in Step 513, then assigns thecustomer preselected Customer Discount Pricing Factor based on specifieddiscount levels for network based merchant financial transactions thathave been completed by the customer and the value of those transactionsas determined for a fixed period of time such as a day, a week, a month,etc. This approach allows the SMS network to continuously evaluate thevalue of each customer such that the network automatically offers to thecustomer the current lowest possible price.

The Custom Engineering Price Assignment Process in Step 513 thenadvances to Step 511 to check whether any additional Customized ServiceCharges, 504 should be charged to the service transaction depending onthe customer's request for additional services. If a customer requestsadditional customization of Custom Engineered Services in Step 511, thenthe process sends a request to the Customized Price Assignment Processin Step 507 to collect the Global Service Identity QSL Service NetworkParameters from the Customer Database 508. The process then activatesthe customer input data analysis and price calculation process in Step506 to compute a One-time Customized Service Usage charge and/or setthis calculation to be subsequently designated as the Custom Engineered(per-time) usage charge. The process may then request an additionalcalculation for a new Monthly Service Charges that may be stored in theCustomer Database 508 for use as the Custom Engineered monthly servicecharge.

The process can conduct further data analysis in Step 511 based on thecustomer's historical usage data that has been collected over time toautomatically provide additional cost reductions based on the CustomEngineered Price Assignment Process in Step 513 and/or the CustomizedPricing Assignment Process in Step 507.

The Customer's QSL Services Pricing and Service Management Database 508can be configured to process and manage the customer's QSL servicerequest, as well as additional customized service requests. If acustomer declines the option to select additional customized services,the process then activates the Customized Price Calculation Process inStep 512 and enters for the customer the Custom Engineered MonthlyService Charge, which is computed by the customer input data analysisand price calculation process in Step 506, as well as any discounts dueto the end user based on historical usage data that has been collectedover time and stored in the Customer's QSL Services Pricing and ServiceManagement Database 508.

The Multi-Network QLS Service Delivery and Management Algorithm Based onthe Service Latency Quality Index (LQI) Rating

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the features andoperations of the Algorithm that enables the SMS Network to seamlesslytransition active service transactions to an alternative network byadjusting the Service Latency Quality Index (LQI) rating to match thealternative network performance capabilities when the customer's devicerequests a service transition to an alternative network. This algorithmcan be configured to also perform interoperability between nextgeneration networks such as SMS network hybrid fiber-wireless networksand legacy networks such as the PSTN, Cable, and Public CellularNetworks. This service interoperability can be based on the Service LQIRating which defines the Quality of Experience (QoE) that a customerwill experience on a communication network at any point in time. TheMulti-Network QLS Service Delivery and Management Algorithm can bedesigned to dynamically control and adjust the customer's QoE on thecommunication network as the customer's device transitions from one typeof network to another type of network to maintain the consistency of thecustomer's communication experience between networks that have differentperformance capabilities.

The system and method initiates the Multi-Network QLS Service Deliveryand Management Algorithm in Step 601 when a customer's device sends arequest to transition an active service transaction from one type ofnetwork channel to another type of network channel operating on adifferent network that does not have the same capabilities by firstdetermining whether the customer is currently active on a Silver, Gold,Platinum, Custom Engineered QSL service transaction in Step 602, 604,606 and 608. If the customer is actively engaged in a servicetransaction as a Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Custom Engineered QSLService Level Customer in Step 602, 604, 606 or 608, the Multi-NetworkQLS Service Delivery and Management Algorithm activates the collectionof the network parameters in Step 603, 605, 607 or 609 for the QLSService Level of the particular customer type such as Silver, Gold,Platinum, or Custom Engineered. The Multi-Network QLS Service Deliveryand Management Algorithm then determines whether the targeted network tobe transitioned to has the Service Latency Quality Index (LQI) Ratingcapabilities in Step 610 to enable the Multi-Services Network totransition the active service transaction or session seamlessly to thetargeted alternative network. If the targeted alternative network hasthe network performance capabilities to seamlessly receive the activeservice transaction or session, then the Multi-Network QLS ServiceDelivery and Management Algorithm uses the Service LQI Rating parametersas defined by the SMS Network to set the LQI rating parameters for thetargeted alternative network in Step 612. Then, the process seamlesslytransfers the active service transaction or session to the targetedalternative network and the Multi-Network QLS Service Delivery andManagement Algorithm ends in Step 613. If the targeted alternativenetwork does not possess the network performance capabilities toseamlessly receive the active service transaction or session, then theMulti-Network QLS Service Delivery and Management Algorithm in Step 611modifies the Service LQI Rating parameters as defined by the SMS Networkto create a new set of LQI rating parameters for the targetedalternative network. Then, the process seamlessly transfers the activeservice transaction or session to the targeted alternative network andends the Multi-Network QLS Service Delivery and Management Algorithm inStep 613.

A Next Generation Converged Communication and Information Virtual MeshNetworking Model for Shared-Value Consumer-Merchant E-CommerceNetworking

The evolution in the Internet protocols technology has enabled thedesign of a Virtual Mesh Networking (VMN) architecture capability inaccordance with the present teachings which allows any user on an all IPnetwork within a private or public IP network to dynamically connect toeach other directly with the intervention of third party networks. ThisVMN network architecture model, in turn, provides an all InternetProtocol (IP) converged information and communication network thatenables consumers and merchant to interact directly with each other.This VMN model also can allow any end user entity, consumer or merchant,conducting transactions on an VMN architected network to create virtualIP communication channels via wired or wireless access networkconnections to any other end user entity, consumer or merchant, on aglobal VMN network for the purpose of e-commerce networking, socialnetworking, and/or advertising between end user entities, consumersand/or merchants, without the need for conventional intermediaries. Useof this converged communication and information VMN Model to conducte-commerce, social networking and advertising can substantially reducethe cost for both consumers and merchant. One of the features of the VMNModel is the design of a next-generation converged communication andinformation network shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce networkingmodel that rewards both consumers and merchant for interacting directlywith each other using a unique biometric based security transactionalgorithm, thereby, reducing the cost of communication services toconsumers and reducing advertising cost to merchants. One of the keys toencouraging both consumers and merchants to use the shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce networking model is its security approachwhich can be implement using a Secure Channel BioMetric Transaction(SCBT) Algorithm. This SCBT Algorithm uses a combination of fingerprinting and voiceprint sampling to uniquely identify the Consumers GSIindependent of the end user device that the Consumers might use tocomplete the e-commerce transaction with the merchant. In addition, thisshared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce networking model can beconfigured to use a Smart Multimedia Broadband Hybrid Fiber-Wireless(HFW) Network, which is based on the concept of virtual mesh networkingthat utilizes relational databases, search engines, and data miningtechnologies that allow consumers and merchants to establish securevirtual e-commerce networking relationship, similar to social networkingrelationships, to conduct Secure e-commerce transactions based on theSCBT Algorithm through a real-time automated secure relationshipfacilitated by a Smart Multimedia Broadband HFW with VMN capabilities.

This smart multimedia network enables both the consumers and merchant toestablish databases that can automatically interact with each other whenrequired, but only under the control of the consumers and/or themerchant to facilitate privacy and security for all interactions ortransactions. Descriptions of the basic concepts, privacy and securityfeatures of the consumer and merchant database are provided below. Ingeneral, the smart multimedia network enables the consumer to enter datato configure a consumer database based on the consumer's Global ServiceIdentity (GSI) data which is controlled by the consumer. When the userenters the data, the network is configured to permit the consumer tosegment the consumer data into a relational database that uniquelycharacterizes the consumer from the perspective of stored consumerbiometric data such as fingerprint and voiceprint which can be used incombination to strictly control and secure the consumer's private datathrough the use of the SCBT Algorithm. Examples of such secured data mayinclude the actual name of the consumer, the actual home address, andadditional information such as yearly salary, employer, businessaffiliations, country of origin passport number, etc. The consumer canenter his or her information via the self-provisioning process of theSMS network such that it is segmented into confidential and private datathat is known only to the network and the consumer such that theconsumer is protected during any transaction through the use of the SCBTAlgorithm. The network can be configured such that disclosure of thissecured data is controlled by the consumer through the use of secureelectronically transaction supported by the SMS network in real-timethrough the use of biometric technology such as electronic fingerprint,voiceprint or a combination of multiple biometric features which isembodied in the use of the SCBT Algorithm. This information can bestored in each consumer's database and referred to as the Consumer'sSecurity Identity Attributes (SIAs). In addition to restricted access,there is also restricted use of the SIAs such that they are used only tocomplete a final transaction between a consumer and a merchant under thecontrol of the consumer and the network through the use of the SCBTAlgorithm.

The consumer's database can also contain additional consumer demographicand transactional data defined as Networking Identity Attributes (NIAs).Exemplary NIA transactional data regarding a consumer can includeinformation such as commercial products purchased over a predeterminedperiod of time, commercial services purchased over a predeterminedperiod of time, and locations traveled to within a predetermined periodof time, etc. Exemplary NIA demographic data can include consumerprofile information such as age, sex, race, national origin, etc. Thesystem can also be configured to dynamically monitor, track, store andupdate the NIAs as a function of physical location. For example, thesystem can monitor and record NIAs, in real-time, to gather informationregarding a consumer's physical location during a commercial transactionor to gather a consumer's current physical location relative to amerchant's physical location to offer specials products or services orspecial discounts on products or services. The consumer database canalso be configured to contain other information such as CommunicationServices Attributes (CSI), which identifies the type of communicationdevices owned and used by the consumer when interacting with andconducting e-commerce transactions over the network. Based upon theuser's devices, the consumer can enter the CSI information to identifythe communication and information services that the consumer wishes toutilize from the smart multimedia network on a local, national or globalbasis. Different consumer devices can be equipped and programmed withdifferent features and capabilities to support different forms ofcommunication services such as voice, data, video, or multimedia basedon the particular device. For example, the communication device can be acellular phone and/or PC equipped display and camera capabilities suchthat the merchant's product can be displayed during a real-timeinteraction with the consumer via a video chip. Likewise, the user canemploy a cellular phone and/or PC to show the merchant in real-time apicture or video of exactly the product or service that the consumer isseeking to purchase.

In addition, the consumer's database can also be configured to includeinformation that may be compiled based on a complete and continuousanalysis of the commercial economical value of each consumer andmerchant registered on the network from the perspective of thee-commerce transactions conducted on the network within a predeterminedperiod of time. This information can be referred to as the consumer'sE-Commerce Value Attributes (EVA). One of the differences between theconsumer's EVA and the consumer's SIA, NIA, and CSI is that the EVA isnot a parameter used by the consumer, but rather by the network serviceprovider and/or merchants on the network. Based on the consumer's EVA,the network service provider and/or merchants can offer to the consumerautomatic communication service discounts and automatic commercialproducts and services at discount rates provided by merchant on thenetwork as a function of a particular customer's EVA. The EVA is one ofthe parameters that can be used by the network service provider andmerchants for offering product and service discounts to a particularcustomer on the network because the EVA is the parameter that determinesthe relative value of each customer on the network. The network serviceprovider can also use the EVA to offer discount pricing to high valuemerchants that earn a high Value Rating Factor based on the number oftransactions conducted with consumers over the smart multimedia networkwithin a predefined period of time. The combination of the SIA, NIA,CSI, and EVA parameters can be used to uniquely identify a consumerwithin the context of an all-IP smart multimedia global network forconducting e-commerce networking, social networking, and advertisingbetween consumers and merchants.

Similar to the consumer database, the smart multimedia network alsoenables merchants to configure a merchant database based on themerchant's Global Service Identity (GSI) data which can be entered intothe merchant database and controlled by the merchant. The network alsoenables the merchants to segment merchant data into a relationaldatabase that uniquely characterizes the merchant's products andservices from the perspective of the merchant's proprietary informationsuch as business and marketing strategy data which the merchant wishesto strictly control. Examples of the merchant secured data can includeinformation such as pricing plans and strategies, discounts schedules,product suppliers, other business relationships, employee information,etc. that the merchant wishes to keep confidential and private.Disclosure of the merchant secured data can be controlled such that itis only known to the network and the merchant and can only be disclosedthrough a secure electronically real-time transaction by an authorizedemployee of the merchant's business through the use of biometrictechnology such electronic fingerprint, voiceprint or combination ofbiometric features provided by the SCBT Algorithm. This information canbe stored in each merchant's database and referred to as the merchant'sSecurity Identity Attributes (SIAs). The SIAs can also be establishedhaving restricted use such that they are only used when authorized bythe merchant for the purpose of conducting authorized businesstransactions through the use of the SCBT Algorithm. The merchant'sdatabase can also be configured to establish Merchant NetworkingIdentity Attributes (NIAs), which define information for conductinge-commerce transactions such as commercial products and servicesavailable for purchase, product and services marketing information,products and services pricing information, direct and targeted productand service advertising information, etc. The merchant's database canfurther be configured to contain information such as MerchantCommunication Services Attributes (CSI), which specifies the type ofcommunication devices and communication service connections such asvoice, video, or data that can be used when conducting e-commercetransactions with merchant. The merchants can also use the CSI toidentify the communication and information services that the merchantwishes to utilize for conducting e-commerce transactions over the smartmultimedia network on a local, national or global basis. In addition,the merchant's database can include information collected fromcontinuous profiling of customers such as their purchasing habits, theirbuying patterns, and the effectiveness of marketing strategies, etc. inorder to understand and assess the commercial economical value of eachconsumer registered on the network from the perspective of thee-commerce transactions conducted with a merchant within a predefinedperiod of time. In addition, to e-commerce transactions conducted with amerchant within a predefined period of time the SMS network can collectother marketing and/or profiling data about the consumer to enhance thepotential of the consumer becoming a customer of the merchant. Thisinformation can be tracked by the network for each consumer on behalf ofthe merchant and stored in the merchant's database as the consumer'sE-Commerce Value Attributes (EVA). A merchant on the network can use theconsumer's EVA data to offer consumers automatic product and servicediscounts and special products and/or services based on the consumer'sunique demographic profile. Another attribute that can be calculated onbehalf of a merchant by the SMS network is a risk rating of conducting atransaction with a merchant. This risk rating can be determined byperforming a risk assessment that calculates the risk for a consumer toengage in a commercial transaction with a merchant over the network. TheSMS network can be configured to make a determination, based on thecalculated risk rating and risk assessment, whether to submit a requestfrom the consumer to a particular merchant. If the SMS networkdetermines that a merchant's risk rating and risk assessment fall withinan acceptable risk threshold, then the network will transmit theconsumer's request to the merchant. It is further noted that themerchant EVA can be used by the merchant to operate in a consumer modeto purchase goods and services from other merchants registered on theSMS network. The SMS network can be configured such that each time themerchant conducts a transaction as a consumer the merchant receives anegotiated discounted price or various discounts and specials that theSMS network negotiates on behalf of the merchant. As a result, thenetwork can be configured to receive compensation for every type oftransactions, such as business-to-business transactions andbusiness-to-consumer transactions, conducted over the SMS network.

The Shared-Value Consumer-Merchant E-Commerce Global Service Identity(GSI) Networking Model

FIG. 7 illustrates the features of an exemplary shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) NetworkingModel 700, which allows consumer and merchants to virtually interactover a Multi-Services Network to conduct private commercial transactionswithout the merchant having access to the consumer secure identityinformation until the commercial transaction is agreed to by theconsumer and merchant. The consumer can conduct the commercialtransaction using a GSI that is assigned to the consumer by theMulti-Services Network for the purpose of automatically requesting, forexample, the same or a better commercial pricing, product and servicesfeatures, product and services availability data simultaneously fromdifferent merchants regarding similar products and/or services. Thisfeature enables the Multi-Services Network to perform a completecompetitive analysis of products and services for the consumer inreal-time such that the consumer can make a selection of products and/orservices based on the most current data available from all merchantsthat are willing to compete simultaneously to sell the product to aparticular GSI “consumer”. One feature of this approach is that theconsumer and merchant are connected to each other in a peeringrelationship on the same Smart Multimedia Broadband HybridFiber-Wireless (HFW) Network 701, which provides the consumer real-timeaccess to, for example, all pricing, product and services features,product and services availability data regarding similar products andservices being offered simultaneously from all merchants that areregistered on the Smart Multimedia Broadband Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW)Network 701 that are interested in selling the product and/or service tothe consumer. In other words, the network can be configured to monitorand collect such consumer product and services information at any pointin time, as well as in real-time as a function of the consumer'sphysical location to aid consumers in their purchasing decisions.

In FIG. 7, the GSI Networking Model can include a consumer valueproposition database 702 for retrieving and storing at any time for theconsumers the best available prices for the products and/or servicesbeing offered by the broader merchant community that is registered onthe SMS network. Having access to the consumers' NIA, CSI and EVAinformation serves as an incentive to the merchant to provide theconsumer's GSI with the best offer because the SMS network can determinethe statistical probability of completing a successful sale for themerchant if the merchant can make the most compelling sales offer to theconsumers' GSI based on the merchant's current business constraints orstrategies automatically as currently defined within the network by themerchant. The shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce Global ServiceIdentity (GSI) Networking Model can be designed to allow the consumer'sGSI to make direct requests for products and services that may beavailable from all merchants that are registered on the SMS network.This feature potentially eliminates the need for broadcast type “Push”Advertising system where the merchant offers unsolicited products andservices to the consumer, which is inherently expensive for merchantwith very low probabilities of making successful sales. The shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) NetworkingModel can be further configured to allow merchants to view thestatistical probability of completing a successful sale before themerchant makes an offer to sell the product or service.

The merchant value proposition database 703 stores data that allowsmerchants to dynamically lower their marketing and selling cost whileincreasing the probability of a success sale. The shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) NetworkingModel also allows the merchant to access electronic demographicprofiling information regarding high-valued consumers for electronicmarketing and advertising purposes within the SMS networking communitybased on the consumer's EVA. The consumer benefit database 704 storesinformation to analyze the cost reductions calculated based on the costthat has been traditionally paid by the merchant for access to consumersales opportunities because the merchant is now provided directreal-time access to the consumer's GSI profiling information through theSMS network. This approach allows merchant and the owner of the SMSnetwork to collaborate with, pass onto and share with the consumers someof the cost reduction savings that will result from reduced marketingand advertising cost by utilizing the shared-value consumer-merchante-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) Networking Model. This costreductions and savings sharing arrangement can be used to encourageconsumers to make more frequent e-commerce transactions on the SMSnetwork. For example, the cost saving passed to the consumer can bedetermined as a combination of lower monthly communication servicecharges as function of the number of transactions that are performed bythe consumer within a given month or determined based simply on savingson products and services purchased directly from merchants that resultedfrom lower marketing and advertising costs. The merchant benefitdatabase 705 can be provided to offer real-time access to consumer's GSIprofiling information, reduction in marketing and advertising costs andthe utilization of a “Pull” based advertising approach which means theconsumer is requesting or soliciting the product and/or service directlyfrom the merchant verses the “Push” based advertising approach where themerchant must advertise to the consumer to convince the consumer torequest the product and/or service. The “Pull” based advertisingapproach is less expensive than today's “Push” based advertisingapproach because the merchant does not have to advertise to the consumerto convince the consumer to request the product and/or services. Forexample, in today's broadcast “Push” advertising approach, the merchantdoes not have access to any real-time direct data on a specific consumerthat might view the advertisement of their product or service inreal-time and as such the merchant does not have the ability toautomatically customize the advertising messages to a particularconsumer in real-time to improve the probability of making a sale to theconsumer. However, through the shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerceGlobal Service Identity (GSI) Networking Model of the present teachings,the merchant is capable of receiving a direct request from theconsumer's GSI which is a “Pull” based advertising approach for theproduct and/or service that the consumer is seeking electronically andas such the merchant has direct access to the consumers' profile andEVA. As a result, the merchant can make adjustments to the product orservice advertisement, pricing, delivery date, etc, in real-time whileelectronically interacting with the consumer, thereby, increasing theprobability of successfully completing a sale to the consumer.

The Shared-Value Consumer-Merchant E-Commerce Global Service Identity(GSI) Naming Architecture

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary shared-value consumer-merchante-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) Naming Architecture 800 whichdefines how consumers and merchants are interrelated with each other andcommunicate with each other within the shared-value consumer-merchante-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) Networking Model to formpeering relationships for networking and utilizing shared networkservices and resources. The GSI Naming Architecture 800 can also beconfigured to allow an optimized management and movement of consumersdemographic profiling data and merchants products and services datawithin a closed public or private SMS network platform for real-timesecure e-commerce transactions between consumer and merchant on aworldwide basis. By way of example, the GSI Naming Architecture 800 canbe configured to consist of four or more layers that enable a consumerand/or a merchant to be uniquely identified on a global basis within agiven metro-area which can be designated based on a city, a community, atown, or neighborhood provided that the metro-area is connected to theSMS global network. Within the GSI Naming Architecture, a particularmetro-area should have or should be capable of being configured to havea Gateway Service Node (GSN) in order to be identified and/or authorizedto conduct consumer-merchant e-commerce transaction within the SMSglobal network. For illustration purposes, FIG. 8 depicts a four-layerarchitecture structure of the GSI Naming Architecture which includes,for example, a Local Service Node Layer 810, a Regional Service NodeLayer 807, a National Service Node Layer 804, and an InternationalService Node Layer 801. Although, these layers are designed hierarchicallayers as show in illustration 800, under certain performancerequirements these layer can have direct transport connection betweentwo service nodes at the same hierarchical layer to speed the movementof information or data between two high traffic areas such as the UnitedStates and Europe as shown between 805 and 806. These service nodelayers can consist of Mobile Cloud Computing and Storage Platforms thathouse the secure relational databases for both consumers and merchantsthat are used to facilitate consumer-merchant e-commerce transactions.These Mobile Cloud Computing and Storage Platforms are designed toprovide a “Mesh like” data network configuration 802, 803, 805, 806,808, 809, 811, and 812 for reliability and consumer and merchantdatabase mirroring. The secure naming for a merchant within the MobileCloud Computing and Storage Platforms can be defined, for example, basedon the merchant legal commercial business tax identity which can be usedto uniquely identify a merchant business entity within a specific city,community, town, or neighborhood at the lowest layer 810 within the GSINaming Architecture. The merchant legal commercial business tax identitycan be used to anchor all other data and information about the merchantsuch as business address, commercial business sector category, productsand services, etc. The merchant legal business tax identity anchor canalso be used at subsequent layers 807, 804, and 801 within the GSINaming Architecture to uniquely identify a merchant business entity byadding additional name descriptor to the merchant legal commercialbusiness tax identity to uniquely identify the merchant at differencelevels of the GSI Naming Architecture. The secure naming for a consumerwithin the Mobile Cloud Computing and Storage Platforms can be defined,for example, as the consumer legal passport number which can also becross referenced with other legal identity information such as socialsecurity numbers, driver license numbers, biometric data such asfingerprint and voiceprint, etc. to form a unique consumer identify,which can be used to uniquely identify a consumer with a specific city,community, town, or neighborhood at the lowest layer 810 within the GSINaming Architecture. The consumer's passport number based uniqueconsumer identify can be used to anchor all other data and informationabout the consumer such as home address, employment history, financialdata, biometric data such as fingerprint and voiceprint, etc. Theconsumer's legal passport number based unique consumer identify anchorcan also be used at subsequent layers within GSI Naming Architecture touniquely identify the consumer by adding additional name descriptor tothe consumer's passport number to uniquely identify the consumer atdifferent levels of the GSI Naming Architecture.

The Shared-Value Consumer-Merchant E-Commerce Global Service Identity(GSI) Data Management Architecture

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary shared-value consumer-merchante-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) Data Management Architecture900, which defines how the SMS network 901 utilizes both consumers andmerchants data to establish peering relationships between the consumersand merchants within the shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerceGlobal Service Identity (GSI) Networking Model. The SMS network 901 canalso be configured to utilize a network based real-time consumer andmerchant data analytics platform 904 to perform data mining and dataanalysis on both consumer and merchant data to support a specifice-commerce transaction. The shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerceGlobal Service Identity (GSI) Data Management Architecture may include aconsumer GSI data management process 902, which serves as the repositoryfor consumer data that is utilized by the SMS network 901 on behalf ofthe consumer for the purpose of conducting e-commerce transactionsbetween the consumers and the merchants when the consumer initiates thetransaction. This consumer data repository 902 can consist of multipleconsumer data structures or data schema that are used to storeinformation that characterizes the consumer such as the Consumer GSI'ssecure data attributes 906, the Consumer GSI's Networking dataattributes 907, the Consumer GSI's LQI Selection Preferences Data 908,the Consumer GSI's QLS Service Selection Preferences Data 909, and theConsumer GSI's Value Rating Database 910. The Consumer GSI Database 905can serve as the data repository for the consumer GSI data utilized bythe SMS network 901 and the network based real-time consumer andmerchant data analytics platform 904. The Consumer GSI's secure dataschema 906 can be the storage location within the Consumer DataRepository 902 where the unique secure data about a consumer's GSI isstored for use by the SMS network 901 for conducting e-commercetransactions with merchants. The Consumer GSI's networking data schema907 can be the storage location within the Consumer Data Repository 902where the networking data is stored and used by the SMS network 901 toallow the consumers to dynamically interact with and conduct e-commercetransactions with merchants over the SMS network 901. The Consumer GSI'sLQI Selection Preferences Data 908 can be configured as the storagelocation where the consumer's service performance preferences data isstored and used by the SMS network 901 for identifying the consumerservices performance parameters in real-time and to guarantee that therequested consumer service performance preferences are delivered by theSMS network 901.

The Consumer GSI's QLS Service Selection Preferences Data 909 can beconfigured as the storage location for storing the consumer's serviceselection preferences data which is used later by the SMS network 901 toidentify all consumer service requirement parameters in real-time, toguarantee that the consumer service selection preferences are deliveredto the consumer, and to ensure that the SMS network 901 can meet theservice quality level guarantees that were sold to the consumer by theowner of the SMS network 901. The Consumer GSI's Value Rating Database910 can be configured as the storage location for the consumer's ValueRating data, which can be used by the SMS network 901 to identify thevalue of the consumer's GSI to a potential merchant that may wish toconduct e-commerce transactions with a specific consumer. The ConsumerGSI's Value Rating Database 910 can also be used to store the resultsfrom all data mining and data analysis information computed by thenetwork based real-time consumer and merchant data analytics platform904 for subsequent use by the SMS network 901 for the purpose ofsupporting a particular e-commerce transaction between a consumer and amerchant.

The Merchant GSI data management process 903 can also be configured asthe repository for the merchant data that is utilized by the SMS network901 on behalf of the merchant for conducting e-commerce transactionsbetween merchants and consumers when the transaction is initiated by themerchant. This merchant data repository 903 can include multiplemerchant data structures or data schema that are used to characterizethe merchant such as the Merchant GSI's secure data attributes 914, theMerchant GSI's Networking data attributes 913, the Merchant GSI's LQISelection Preferences Data 916, the Merchant GSI's QLS Service SelectionPreferences Data 915, and the Merchant GSI's Discount SchedulingDatabase 912. The Merchant GSI Database 911 can serve as the datarepository for the Merchant GSI data that is utilized by the SMS network901 and the network based real-time consumer and merchant data analyticsplatform 904. The Merchant GSI's secure data schema 914 can serve as thestorage location within the Merchant Data Repository 903 where allunique secure data about a Merchant's GSI is stored for use by the SMSnetwork 901 to conduct e-commerce transactions with consumer. Merchantidentity experience attributes are selected and purchased by theMerchant GSI from the SMS network to define the quality of serviceexperience interaction to be dedicated and delivered during acommunication session to conduct a transaction over the network with aconsumer. However, when the merchant identity experience attributediffers from the QoE level of service paid for by the consumer andguaranteed to be delivered by the SMS network during a communicationsession, in some embodiment, the system can be configured such that themerchant identity experience attribute will dictate the QoE level ofservice. In such an embodiment, the party which has registered for thelowest QoE level of service will stipulate the QoE level of service usedduring the communication session. This feature prevents the party withthe highest QoE level of service from forcing the party with the lowestQoE to pay for services at a higher cost level than it wishes to pay.The Merchant GSI's networking data schema 913 functions as the storagelocation for storing networking data used by the SMS network 901 toenable merchants to dynamically interact with consumers to conducte-commerce transactions over the SMS network 901. The Merchant GSI's LQISelection Preferences Data 916 provides the storage location for themerchant's service performance preferences data which the SMS network901 uses to identify all merchant services performance parameters inreal-time and, thereby, guaranteeing that the merchant serviceperformance preferences are delivered to the merchant by the SMS network901.

The Merchant GSI's QLS Service Selection Preferences Data 915 can beconfigured as the merchant's service selection preferences data that theSMS network 901 uses to identify all merchant service requirementparameters in real-time, to guarantee that the merchant's serviceselection preferences are delivered to the merchant and to ensure thatthe SMS network 901 can meet the service quality level guarantees thatare sold to the merchant by the owner of the SMS network 901. TheMerchant GSI's Discount Scheduling Database 912 provides the storagelocation for the merchant's Discounts and Discount Scheduling data,which the SMS network 901 uses to identify the lowest price that can beoffered to a consumer's GSI on behalf of the Merchant for a specifice-commerce transaction with a consumer's GSI. The Merchant's Discountsand Discount Scheduling data storage location can also be used by thenetwork based real-time consumer and merchant data analytics platform904 to perform data mining and data analysis for a specific real-timetransaction by the SMS network 901 to support the specific e-commercetransaction conducted between a consumer and a merchant.

With the use of the GSIs, another feature of the SMS Networks is theability to perform Location Relevance Advertising within any Level of anSMS Network Hierarchical due to the fact that all SMS Networks areHybrid Fiber-Wireless Networks which allows every end user with a wiredor wireless device to have their physical location within the Local SMSNetwork geographic coverage area tracked and monitor. The end user canelect during the initial registration of the selection preferences 908(FIG. 9) or dynamically as the end user travels within the Local SMSNetwork's geographic coverage area to have the physical location of thewired and wireless devices tracked or monitored. Given that all LocalSMS Networks support wireless connectivity and as such their physicallocations can be identified and recognized by using the Local SMSNetwork presence capabilities, if activated by the end user, for thepurpose of allowing other end users or merchants on the SMS Network toknow which end users are active on any Local SMS Network as a functionof both time and physical location. The SMS Network Presencescapabilities can also be used to allow any end user to share productsand services needs, as well as end user demographic profile informationin real-time with any merchant on the SMS Network. This advertising as afunction of time enables any merchant to use Directed Advertising on theSMS Network as a function time and physical location to directlyadvertise to an end user on the SMS Network which is referred to asLocation Relevance Advertising. The SMS Network employs LocationRelevance Advertising when an end user's device is detected, forexample, entering a mall. Retailers, which are connected to the SMSNetwork and located within the mall, can be notified of the end user'slocation and the end user's affinity for high-priced designer shoes andhandbags based on the end user's historical purchasing data stored inthe Consumer GSI Database 905. Based upon the end user's currentlocation, being within the mall, one or more retailers of designer shoesand handbags within the mall can decide to offer the end user aninstantaneous discount or coupon to purchase such items. The retailerscan decide to limit this broadcast of the discount or coupon only tosimilar end users that are currently within the mall at the presenttime. One purpose of Location Relevance Advertising is to improve theprobability of a merchant to completing a sale of a product and/or aservice with the end user because the advertisement is only sent to theend user because the coupon or discount for the product or servicesmatches an identified need of the end user as a function of thatparticular time and physical location.

The Shared-Value Consumer-Merchant E-Commerce Global Service Identity(GSI) Transaction Pricing and Advertising Algorithm

The general operation of the Transaction Pricing and AdvertisingAlgorithm is summarized in the flowchart of FIG. 10. In general, thenetwork employs the Transaction Pricing and Advertising Algorithm tofacilitate transactions between consumers and merchants within theshared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI)Networking Model. This algorithm allows the SMS network to identify thesource of a transaction request. In other words, the SMS network candetermine whether a transaction request is initiated by the consumer orthe merchant. If a consumer initiates the request, the SMS networkcollects the consumer's data from the Consumer GSI's Database to performthe transaction and to automatically provide the pricing and advertisinginformation. If a merchant initiates the request, the SMS networkcollects the merchant data from the Merchant GSI's Database to performthe transaction and to automatically render the pricing and advertisinginformation. When a consumer's GSI enters a request for a transaction onthe SMS network, this launches the shared-value consumer-merchante-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) Transaction Pricing andAdvertising Algorithm 1001. This consumer request initiates thee-commerce transaction process in Step 1001, which in turn activates inStep 1002 a communication session between the consumer and the merchantover the SMS network such that the network monitors and stores, withinthe Consumer's GSI Database, the starting time and date of the sessionas well as the physical location of the consumer when the sessionstarts. This approach allows the SMS network to correlate the purchasingof products and service with the physical location and store this datafor later use by merchants on the SMS network to facilitate future saleof products and services. Once the consumer and/or merchant sessionstarts, the Consumer Database Query Process in Step 1003 begins tocollect all the relevant consumer GSI networking attribute data toinitiate the consumer and merchant e-commerce transaction. Once thenetwork collects the relevant consumer GSI networking attribute data, itlaunches the Merchant Database Query Process in Step 1005 to collect allthe relevant merchant GSI networking attribute data to support theconsumer and merchant e-commerce transaction session. Next, in Step1007, the shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce Global ServiceIdentity (GSI) Transaction Pricing and Advertising Algorithm checks todetermine if the proposed e-commerce transaction can be completed byverifying whether or not the products and/or services are available fromthe merchant. If merchant has the products and/or services available,then in Step 1010, the GSI Pricing Algorithm begins collecting therequired data from the consumer GSI database 1004 and the merchantdatabase 1006 to compute the price for the requested product and/orservice for the specific e-commerce transaction.

Once the network computes the price, the shared-value consumer-merchante-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) Transaction Pricing andAdvertising Algorithm checks in Step 1011 to determine if a discountshould be applied to the purchase of a product or service based on theConsumer GSI's Value Rating Factor. If it is determined that a discountis applicable in Step 1011, then the network activates the DiscountPricing Process in Step 1013 to determine the discount amount to beapplied to the product and/or service as well as the correspondingcustomized advertising that should also be sent to the consumer GSI forother products and/or services that may be of interest to the consumer'sGSI based on the consumer physical location and the type of transactionthat the consumer GSI most recently requested at that particularphysical location. If in Step 1011 it is determined that the consumer'sGSI does not qualify for a discount, then the network initiates theStandard Pricing Process 1012, which applies standard pricing for theproduct and/or service as well as the general advertising that may besent to the consumer's GSI for other products and/or services that maybe of interest to the consumer's GSI based on the physical location ofthe consumer and the consumer's demographic profile. If, the consumer'sGSI decides not to purchase the product and/or service in Step 1014,then the shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce Global ServiceIdentity (GSI) Transaction Pricing and Advertising Algorithm terminatesin Step 1009. If the consumer's GSI decides to purchase the productand/or service in Step 1014, then the Consumer GSI Value Rating FactorProcess in Step 1015 begins to compute an updated Consumer GSI ValueRating Factor, which indicates the latest e-commerce transactionscompleted by the consumer's GSI. After computing the new Consumer GSIValue Rating Factor, the network begins the Consumer GSI Value RatingFactor (VRF) Update Process in Step 1016 to update the consumer's GSIDatabase 1004. Next, the Consumer Transaction Purchasing Process in Step1008 records the purchased product and/or service for future pricing aswell as advertising opportunities. Once the Consumer TransactionPurchasing Process in Step 1008 is completed, then the shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) TransactionPricing and Advertising Algorithm ends in Step 1009.

The Shared-Value Consumer-Merchant E-Commerce Global Service Identity(GSI) Networking Model: Automatic E-Commerce Value Attribute (EVA)Analysis and Pricing Algorithm

FIG. 11 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the general features andoperations of the Automatic E-Commerce Value Attribute (EVA) Analysisand Pricing Algorithm which can be used by the network to automaticallycalculate the economical value of each consumer and merchant GSI on acontinuous basis while consumers and merchants are conducting e-commercetransactions within the shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce GlobalService Identity (GSI) Networking Model. This algorithm enables the SMSnetwork to continuously monitor all consumer and merchant transactionsto evaluate the economical value to both consumers and merchants for thepurpose of generating more e-commerce based transactions and providingcost savings to both consumers and merchants. This algorithm also allowsthe network service provider to offer QLS service discounts to consumersto stimulate more transactions over the SMS network. The algorithmfurther enables the network service provider to create a new revenuestream generated from the capture of customer information regardinghigh-valued customers that conduct frequent e-commerce transactions withmerchants that are also registered on the SMS network. Due to theirtendency to conduct frequent transactions, the high-valued customerswill most likely conduct numerous transactions over the network withlittle or no advertising being issued from the merchants to thecustomers. This direct business relationship established with thecustomer by the network reduces the advertising cost to the merchant tocomplete a sale on the SMS network. The SMS network can take advantageof the benefits of this reduction in advertising fee to the merchants byenabling the owner of the network to charge the merchant a fee for theincrease in sales generated by the network for the merchant These“network-generated” sales are not the direct result of merchant's “Push”based advertising for which the merchant pays for directly to the ownerof the SMS Network in advertising fees. Thus, this algorithmic approachallows merchants to receive savings in advertising cost due to thedirect e-commerce transactions conducted with the consumers without theneed for paying high marketing and sales cost by the merchant because ofthe direct business relationship established with the consumer via theSMS network, thereby, decreasing the merchant's cost of advertising.

This algorithmic approach allows the consumers to receive savings onproducts and services purchased over the SMS network as well as receivesavings on communication services from the network service providerbased on their automatically calculated EVA. In addition, the consumercan also earn additional cost savings on their communication servicesreceived from the network service provider based on the network ownerprofits, which can be derived in part from the increased revenuesgenerated from the merchant's direct business relationship with theconsumer and the resulting consumer's EVA as viewed by the merchant onthe SMS network. One of the features of this approach is the utilizationof a consumer and merchant Learning based Value Rating Factor (VRF)concept that allows the owner of the SMS network to create a valuerating process for both consumers and merchants based on theireconomical value to the owner of the network that can be used forautomatic pricing and discounting of communication services. The SMSnetwork can also automatically update the VRF existing data as new datais compiled about how both consumers and merchants are using the SMSnetwork. For example, the owner of the SMS network may use the VRF tocreate automatic communication services discount table that can beautomatically changed by the SMS network to give both consumers andmerchant communication services discount as their VRF changes over timeor within a fix time period. Initially, the VRF parameter can beestablished based on a standard subjective table of VRF Levels to setthe initial pricing and discount levels by the owner of the SMS network.The initial pricing and discount levels selected for either a consumeror a merchant can be set based on factors such as the consumer'spre-established EVA rating or the initial level of advertising purchasedby the merchant from the network owner. All the transactions aremonitored such that new data is collected on the network utilizationbehavior of both consumers' and merchants' economic activities on theSMS network, the table of standard VRF levels can be adjusted. Theconsumer and merchant Learning based Value Rating Factor (VRF) algorithmcan be configured to be continuously adjusted and automatically updatedas the SMS network collects new data based on the economic activities ofthe consumers and merchants conducted over the SMS network.

The network can be configured to initiate the shared-valueconsumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI) EVA Analysisand Pricing Algorithm 1101 in FIG. 11 when a consumer's or merchant'sGSI makes a request for a transaction over the SMS network. If therequest is a consumer VRF request in Step 1102, then the processadvances to the consumer GSI value analysis and price process in Step1103 to perform analysis and to collect data from the consumer SecurityIdentity Attributes (SIAs), Networking Identity Attributes (NIAs) andCommunication Services Attributes (CSI) in order to determine whichconsumer VRF level should be used to launch the Consumer GSI's VRFCalculation Process, 1106. In the example provided in FIG. 11, theconsumer Value Rating Factor can be selected from a range of factorssuch as consumer Value Rating Factor (1) in Step 1104 to consumers ValueRating Factor (n) in Step 1105. The network can dynamically compute areal-time updated pricing level for the QLS service level for theconsumer utilizing the Consumer GSI's VRF Calculation Process based onthe GSI's SIA, NIA, and the CSI data and its interactions with the SMSnetwork based real-time consumer and merchant data mining and dataanalytics platform 1109. Once the SMS network calculates the new pricinglevel for the consumer, the Consumer GSI's VRF Calculation Process inStep 1106 then updates the consumers GSI value rating factor database1107. Once the consumers GSI value rating factor database 1107 isupdated, the network launches the QLS Discount Process in Step 1108 tocalculate the consumer GSI's discounts and the consumer's new VRF level.The consumer GSI discounts can be calculated, for example, based onadvertising revenue generated from merchants to the owner of the SMSnetwork. The new consumer's VRF level can be calculated by the ConsumerGSI's VRF Calculation Process in Step 1106 to provide the consumer withautomatic discount pricing. Once the consumer discount pricing levelsare computed and assigned to the consumer's GSI, the AutomaticE-Commerce Value Attribute (EVA) Analysis and Pricing Algorithm ends inStep 1110.

Returning to Step 1102, if the request is not a consumer VRF request,but rather a merchant request, then the network initiates the merchantGSI value analysis and price process in Step 1111 to collect and analyzedata from the merchant Security Identity Attributes (SIAs), NetworkingIdentity Attributes (NIAs) and Communication Services Attributes (CSI)to determine which merchant VRF level, merchants' Value Rating Factorshould be selected to launch the Merchant GSI's VRF Calculation Processin Step 1114. Similar to the example of a consumer's request, themerchant Value Rating Factor can be selected from a range of factorssuch as merchant Value Rating Factor (1) in Step 1112 to merchant ValueRating Factor (n) in Step 1113. The network can employ the MerchantGSI's VRF Calculation Process as it uses the Merchant GSI's SIA, NIA,and the CSI data to interact with the network based real-time consumerand merchant data mining and data analytics platform in Step 1109 tocompute a real-time updated pricing level for the QLS service level forthe merchant. Once the new pricing level for the merchant is calculated,the Merchant GSI's VRF Calculation Process in Step 1114 then updates themerchant GSI value rating factor database 1116. Once the merchant GSIvalue rating factor database 1116 is updated, the network launches theQLS Discount/Charging Process in Step 1115 to calculate the merchantGSI's charges based on the volume of consumer e-commerce transactionsconducted by the consumers over the SMS network with a specificmerchant, as well as the new merchant's VRF level, which can becalculated by the Merchant GSI's VRF Calculation Process in Step 1114 toprovide the merchant with automatic discount pricing for communicationservices. Once the merchant discount pricing and charging levels arecomputed and assigned to the merchant's GSI, the Automatic E-CommerceValue Attribute (EVA) Analysis and Pricing Algorithm ends in Step 1110.

The Shared-Value Consumer-Merchant E-Commerce Global Service Identity(GSI) Networking Model: Secure Channel Biometric Transaction (SCBT)Algorithm

FIG. 12 is an exemplary of the features of the consumer e-commerceSecure Channel Biometric Transaction (SCBT) Algorithm which illustrateshow the decoupling of the consumer who is requesting the e-commercetransaction from the end user device that is being used to conduct thee-commerce transaction. The SCBT Algorithm can be employed by the SMSnetwork to monitor and automatically complete all e-commerce'stransactions initiated by consumers with a merchant on the network as apart of the shared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce Global ServiceIdentity (GSI) Networking Model. The SCBT Algorithm is designed toprocess all e-commerce transactions via a secure communication channelthat is encoded by a special GSI security token which can consist of theconsumer's password encrypted by the consumer's private GSI identitycode or PIN. Each GSI can be configured to include at least onecomponent known to the consumer and at least one component unknown tothe consumer. The known component of the consumer's special GSI securitytoken can be created, for example, by using the consumer's password andprivate GSI identity code which the consumer enters when registering forservice on the SMS network. In addition, the component of the parametersof the consumer's special GSI security token, which is unknown to theconsumer, can also be created as a part of the SMS network's consumerservice registration process which is performed by the network serviceprovider based on data collected from the consumer. For example, thenetwork can perform the consumer service registration process to collectbiometric information, such as a copy of the consumer's voiceprint,fingerprint, facial image, retina, and DNA, which can then be combinedwith the consumer password and private GSI identity code to create aunique special GSI security token for each consumer GSI that isactivated on the SMS network. This SMS network's consumer serviceregistration process ensures that each consumer's GSI that is registeredon the SMS network is configured based on information from more than oneinformation identity data source entered by the consumer that is knownto the consumer and from more than one information identity data sourcegathered from data supplied by the consumer and manipulated by thenetwork such that it is known only to the network, but unknown to theconsumer. In some embodiments, the SMS network's consumer serviceregistration process can be expanded to include more known and unknownconsumer GSI information identity sources based on biometrics. Thisfeature offers greater security for the transactions conducted on thenetwork because the more combinations of known and unknown consumer GSIinformation identity sources, which are used to secure the consumer andmerchant e-commerce transaction secure communication channel, enhancesthe security level that is provided by the SMS network for the consumerand merchant to conduct an e-commerce transaction. The SMS networkencrypts the unknown component to generate an encrypted unknown and thentakes the encrypted unknown to encode the known component. The SMSnetwork uses the unknown consumer GSI biometrics identity information,which means that the network encrypts the biometric information providedby the consumer in a manner such that the encoded information is onlyknown to the network. The network then uses the encrypted biometricinformation to encode the known consumer GSI identity information thatis entered by the consumer into the network via the consumer's passwordand private GSI identity code or PIN. The SMS network then allows theconsumer to enter a special sampling code for each piece of biometricdata, for example, for both the voiceprint and fingerprint data, whichcan be used to determine the frequency by which the SMS network changesor modifies the consumer's special GSI security token for any e-commercetransaction conducted on the network. The network combines the samplingrate entered by the consumer with a random number generator to computethe actual special sampling code for each piece of biometric data (i.e.,both the voiceprint and fingerprint data) to be used by the SMS networkwhen conducting a consumer's transaction. One feature of this approachis that it allows the consumer to determine and control the level ofsecurity that will be afforded by the SMS network for any e-commercetransaction that is conducted by the consumer's GSI on the SMS network.Thus, this feature is an enhanced security feature made available to theconsumer under the consumer's control, which extends beyond the basicsecurity levels that are provided by the SMS network. The SMS networkuses the security data collected from the consumer via the consumer'send user communication device to form the consumer's Biometric Data andGSI Security Token Table which is used by the SCBT Algorithm illustratedby way of example in FIG. 12. In FIG. 12, the network initiates theshared-value consumer-merchant e-commerce Global Service Identity (GSI)e-commerce Secure Channel Biometric Transaction (SCBT) Algorithm 1201when a consumer's or merchant's GSI enters a request for an e-commercetransaction over the SMS network. Initially, in Step 1202, the SCBTalgorithm determines whether this is the first time the consumer isrequesting an e-commerce transaction or if the consumer is an alreadyexisting registered user, who is authorized to conduct e-commercetransactions on the network. If this is the consumer's first request inStep 1202, then the network launches the consumer SCBT registrationprocess in step 1203. The SCBT registration process in Step 1203 startsthe process of collecting the consumer's biometric data (fingerprint andvoiceprint) and computing the GSI security token from data that iscollected from the consumer's fingerprint, voiceprint, and GSI SecurityToken end user input device 1204. Once the consumer's fingerprint,voiceprint, GSI Security Token is computed, the network stores this datain the consumer's GSI database 1205. The SCBT registration process inStep 1203 also verifies that all security data from the consumer hasbeen collected and verified in Step 1206 with the original informationprovided by the consumer when the consumer signed up for the service orself-provisioned their service. If the consumer's fingerprint,voiceprint, or computed GSI Token data cannot be verified in Step 1207,the network checks to confirm whether sufficient data has been gatheredto register the process. If in Step 1207, there is sufficient data butthe registration still cannot be verified, the SCBT Algorithm ends inStep 1208. If in Step 1207 there is not sufficient data to register theprocess, the network requests that the consumer continue theverification process by returning to the SCBT registration process inStep 1203. In Step 1206, if all security data has been collected fromthe consumer and verified, the SCBT Algorithm ends in Step 1208. If inStep 1202, the consumer is an existing registered user, the networkadvances the process to Step 1209 in order for the SCBT Algorithm todetermine whether a secure channel is required to complete thee-commerce transaction. If in Step 1209, a secure channel is notrequired, then the SCBT Algorithm ends in Step 1208. However, if in Step1209 a secure channel is required, then the SCBT Algorithm requests acopy of the consumer's biometric data (fingerprint and voiceprint) inStep 1210 from the consumer's GSI database 1205 for analysis. Once thebiometric data (fingerprint and/or voiceprint) is verified in Step 1210,then a copy of the consumer's fingerprint, voiceprint, and/or GSIsecurity token information is collected in Step 1211 from the consumer'sfingerprint, voiceprint, and GSI Security Token end user input device1204 for a comparative analysis of the consumer security data such asconsumer's fingerprint, voiceprint, and GSI Security Token. Once theanalysis of the consumer's fingerprint, voiceprint, and computed GSIToken data is complete, the consumer's voiceprint verification samplingprocess is launched in Step 1212. The consumer's voiceprint verificationsampling process in Step 1212 requests a copy of the consumer'svoiceprint sampling rate and GSI security token preference table fromthe consumer's GSI database 1205 for use during the processing of thespecific SCBT e-commerce transaction requested by the consumer. Once theconsumer's voiceprint sampling rate and GSI security token table isavailable from the consumer's GSI database 1205, the SMS networklaunches the consumer's SCBT Verification and certification process inStep 1213. The consumer's SCBT Verification and certification process inStep 1213 interacts with the consumer's fingerprint, voiceprint, and GSISecurity Token end user input device 1204 to read out data to verify andcertify the e-commerce transactions conducted over the SMS network inreal-time using the consumer's voiceprint sampling rate and GSI securitytoken preference table. Based on the consumer's SCBT Verification andcertification process in Step 1213 if the certification of the consumercannot be performed in Step 1214, the SMS network terminates the SCBTAlgorithm in Step 1216. If, based on the consumer's SCBT Verificationand certification process in Step 1213, the SMS network can perform thecertification of the consumer and the required authorization in Step1214, the SCBT e-commerce transaction is authorized and the SCBTAlgorithm is terminated in Step 1215. Although the example describedabove and provided in FIG. 12 illustrates the biometric data asfingerprint and voiceprint data, it is known to one skilled in the artthat other biometric data such as retina scan, an image (facial image),a sound, and DNA can be used without departing from the scope of theteachings.

Through the use of the SCBT algorithm, the SMS network is capable ofproviding dynamically allocated real-time end user secure channelsession transactions that allow end users to establish secure channelsfor communication between two end points on the network. The SMS networkprovides an additional layer of protection to create the securedtransactions. Once the transaction or session is completed, the SMSnetwork deletes or erases any data associated with the session ortransaction from the network. To establish the secure channels the SMSnetwork creates a virtual connection between the two end points of thenetwork through the use of the intelligent networking design builtwithin the SMS network. The user can request the implementation of thesecured channels for any type of transactions to prevent others frombreaching or compromising the security of the transaction. The user caninitially configure his or her virtual network during the registrationon the SMS network to automatically establish secure channels for apredefined type of transactions, for example, all telephone calls dialedto and received from a specific telephone number. The SMS network alsoenables the user to dynamically request a secure channel at thebeginning of a particular transaction or session. The user can configurethe SMS to delete or erase any and all data associated with thetransaction or session completely from all components of the networksuch that no permanent record of the transaction will be retained on thenetwork or at any of the end points. For example, the end user canconfigure the SMS to erase all telephone messages recorded on a voicemail associated with a specific telephone number after a predeterminedtime period. Prior to receiving the message, a request to recipients atthe end points to obtain their consent to the terms of service agreementto establish the secure channel. The recipient must agree to the termsof receipt as specified by the end user on the SMS network before thesecured channel is established at the recipient's end point. Thus inthis example, the recipient of the voice mail will not have thecapability to override the instructions configured by the end user onthe SMS network or will not be able to prevent the deletion of thee-mail message from the recipient's device. When the transaction orsession is completed, the SMS network completely erases and permanentlydeletes all data associated with the transaction or session completelyfrom the network and all the end points.

Referring FIGS. 3, 8, 9, 13, and 14, another feature provided by thepresent teachings is the introduction of the concept of “Mobile CloudComputing.” Mobile Cloud Computing expands the traditional concept ofCloud Computing. Traditionally, cloud computing, which is based on themetaphor of the cloud drawing used to depict the Internet in computernetwork diagrams, relates to the delivery of common businessapplications online which are accessed from a web browser, while thesoftware and data are stored on servers owned and operated by a cloudcomputing provider. In general, cloud computing customers do not own thephysical infrastructure of the network; instead they avoid capitalexpenditure on hardware, software, and services by renting usage fromthe cloud computing network providers. Multiple consumers can share astenants the computing power offered by the cloud computing networkproviders. In this sharing-style per-use service-based approach, eachconsumer pays the provider only for the resources that they use.

Traditional cloud computing allows the data to be stored on a globalnetwork or local network resource. However, the Mobile Cloud Computingallows the data to be stored in a disturbed networking approach on botha global shared network and local shared network based on data aging andarchiving techniques as a point of reference similar to the globalnetwork 360 and local networks 340, 350 in FIG. 3. Some of the endusers' data can be stored on the global shared network server based ondata mirroring and data archiving techniques which is referred to as the“Global Master Network Cloud” for sharing the network data storageresources as discussed above. In addition, the current active end userdata can be stored on the local shared network server based on the dataaging algorithm techniques which are referred to as the “Local CachingNetwork Cloud” at the local network level on shared network servers(similar to storage server 327) within a local access network to enablerapid access. Local caching network clouds are designed as sharedstorage memories locations within the local home network as close to enduser devices as possible to provide a more efficient and faster lookupof data than much larger shared storage memories located on globalmaster network clouds. Thus, the user is able to access the dataquicker, to constantly maintain and update the data, and to receive abetter quality of experience when the user's device is directlyconnected to or located nearby or within a local home network. However,when the user wishes to disconnect his or her mobile computing device,such as a laptop computer, from the local home network and travel toanother local network and gain access as a visitor, access to the dataon the visiting network using traditional cloud computing techniquespresents a problem because the quality of experience for the end userwill be different due to the rapid rate of access to end user data fromthe end user's original home network and the security permissioncontrols enforced by the end user's original home network on any dataqueries from any foreign network and as such access to the end user'sdata within their original home network cannot be guaranteed while theend user is visiting a foreign network which from this point forwardwill be referred to as the “Visiting Network”. Within these types ofnetwork designs, an end user can only gain access to data stored on anetwork through a wireless device connection or through a wired deviceconnection at the lowest level in the network, which is referred to asthe local access network. Thus, the customer must either download thedata onto his or her mobile computing device prior to leaving the localhome network or have the capability and resources to access the datastored on the local home network via a Virtual Private Network (VPN)connection from the Visiting Local Access Network. In general, someorganizations or entities may install VPNs to provide securecommunications through the public Internet so that their authorizedusers can remotely access their own secure local home network data.However, other entities, especially small businesses, may not have theresources to construct the network infrastructure to support such a VPNarrangement for data or network resource access.

The Mobile Cloud Computing approach according to the present teachings,as shown in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 13 and 14, overcomes thisshortcoming by enabling a mobile cloud computing data networkingprotocol that allows end users that are visiting foreign local accessnetworks to be recognized as a “Visitor”, thereby, allowing the user'sdevice to cause the visiting network to activate the mobile cloudcomputing data networking protocol which implements an IntraCloudDataStore Handover or a InterCloud DataStore Handover as illustrated inFIG. 13. This mobile cloud computing data networking protocol eliminatesthe current security restrictions on data movement between home cloudnetworks and visiting cloud network by allows the end user to establishdata policy management procedures within the end user's home SMS networkwhich are used by the end user's home SMS network to performinternetworking with visiting local network for the purpose of allowingend user data to be mobile within the context of the SMS network. Thismobile cloud computing data networking protocol also ensures that enduser's current data is always automatically available within the localaccess networks that the end user happens to be connected to at the timewhether it is the end users home local access network or a visitinglocal access network. The mobile cloud computing data networkingprotocol is implemented by using peer-to-peer server connections thatcan be formed dynamically by ad-hoc additions of server nodes on alocal, regional, national and international mobile cloud computingnetwork level as shown, for example, in FIG. 8. When the user's deviceconnects to a visiting network, the Mobile Cloud Computing DataNetworking (MCCDN) Protocol enables the visiting network toautomatically recognize the device and then locate the local homenetwork of the end user to gain access to the end user's data, which isthen moved to the visiting local access network automatically. Thus, theSMS network automatically detects that the end user's device is nolonger located within the local home access network 1301, automaticallylocates the data on the servers' of the local home access network thentransfers it onto the servers' of the visiting network at the end user'snew location. This capability of the SMS network of the presentteachings, which moves the data with the user so that it “makes the datamobile”, is termed as the “handover” feature. The SMS network can bedesigned to perform an InterCloud Handover 1311, IntraCloud Handover1310 a, 1310 b, or a combination of InterCloud and IntraCloud Handovers,which will be described further below.

FIG. 13 illustrates a first SMS data network, identified as Home MobileCloud Computing Network 1301, which is capable of establishing aconnection through a global network to a second SMS data network,identified as Visiting Mobile Cloud Computing Network 1312. The firstand second SMS data networks 1301, 1312 shown in FIG. 13 can beconfigured as a part of the SMS network 300 depicted in FIG. 3. FIG. 13provides a more detail discussion of the data manager aspect of FIG. 3.It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that each SMS networkcan be constructed to include numerous local home networks connected toa single national network. For example, Home Mobile Cloud ComputingNetwork 1301 can be configured to include local networks 1313 a and 1314a (Local Cloud Computing (LCP) Cache Home Network Location Node)connected to a national network 1302 a (Master Cloud Computing (MCP)Home Network Nodes).

The network can be configured based on end user's policy managementprocedures such that the user does not have to request the transfer ofhis or her data repositories or data schema from the local home accessnetwork to the visiting access network, but rather the SMS networkautomatically performs the Mobile Cloud Computing function oftransferring end user's data repositories or data schema. When the userinitially registers with the SMS network, the network will prompt theuser to enter his or her service selection preferences (see, block 908in FIG. 9). One of the preferences that the SMS network may beconfigured to request from the user during enrollment is whether he orshe wishes to select the Mobile Cloud Computing feature such that thenetwork tracks the location of the user's wired or wireless device andcollects and stores the corresponding tracking/location information asmobility location data of the wired or wireless device. If the userselects the Mobile Cloud Computing feature, the network can track thephysical location of the wireless or wired device as it travels out ofthe local home access network to one or more visiting access networks.The present teachings further incorporates the features of policymanagement wherein the users can change their preferences in real-timeto grant access to the visiting access network. If the user declines theMobile Cloud Computing option during the initial registration and theuser subsequently travels to a visiting location and wishes to accesshis or her data via the visiting location, the user can reset his or herpreferences in real-time from the visiting location to temporarily logonto the visiting network to gain access to his or her data on the localhome access network through a VPN connection and as such the MobileCloud Computing feature will be activated, thereby, enabling the SMSnetwork to take charge of the management and movement of the end user'sdata repositories or data schema within the SMS network. For example,should the user's interne service become unavailable from her local homeaccess network due to a service interruption, the user can still cangain Internet service access through the global network by accessing thelocal home network of another service provider or accessing a anotherlocal network as a visitor within the user's home access network. Thisfeature provides the user with the choice to control how each networkwill be built and managed for each user and as to when each network willbe selected by the user to provide the desired services. This temporarylogon to a visiting network can be implemented via special networkaccess permission controls within the visiting networks.

An IntraCloud Handover 1310 occurs when the user travels from a firstlocation 1309 a to a second visiting location 1315 a within the homeaccess network 1301 so that SMS network makes the data mobile “within”the user's home access network 1301. For example, a user may enter intoa service agreement with a first Internet Service Provider that providesservices in both Chicago and New York. The user may travel from a homelocation 1309 a in the local home access network 1313 a, which servesthe Chicago area to a local visiting location 1315 a serviced by a localvisiting access network 1314 a in the New York area and then connect tothe local visiting network 1314 a to gain access to the user's data atthe local home access network 1313 a. When the user connects the deviceto a local visiting access network 1314 a, the Master Cloud Computing(MCP) Home Network Node of the SMS network will detect the connectionand automatically transfer the end user's data repositories or dataschema from the database engines 1308 a of the local home visitingaccess network 1313 a to the database engines 1306 a of the localvisiting access network 1314 a. The Local Cloud Computing (LCP) CacheHome Network Location Node may include LCP Home Caching Manager 1307 andLCP Visitor Caching Manager 1305 to facilitate the retrieval, temporarystorage, and transfer of the end user's data at the home network and thevisiting network, respectively. The Master Cloud Computing (MCP) HomeNetwork Nodes may include Master MCP Network Controllers 1303 a and GSIHome Databases 1304 a to facilitate the retrieval, temporary storage,and transfer of the end user's data. An InterCloud Handover 1311 occurswhen the user travels from a first SMS network owned and operated by aservice provider 1301 to a second SMS network owned and operated byanother service provider 1312 so that the SMS network makes the datamobile “between” networks owned and operated by different entities. Onenoted difference between an “InterCloud Handover” and an “IntraCloudHandover” is that during an InterCloud Handover, the visiting accessnetwork must request and obtain authorization from the local home accessnetwork to access and receive a copy of the user's data from the localhome access network. During the performance of an InterCloud Handover1311 when the user connects the device to the Visiting Mobile CloudComputing Network 1312, the SMS network will automatically send anaccess request from the Visiting Mobile Cloud Computing Network 1312 tothe Master Cloud Computing (MCP) Home Network Nodes 1303 a of the HomeMobile Cloud Computing Network 1301 to seek authorization to provideaccess to the user's data on the local home access network 1313 a (LocalCloud Computing (LCP) Cache Home Network Location). If the Master CloudComputing (MCP) Home Network Nodes 1303 a approves the request andgrants access to the user's data, the SMS network transfers a copy ofthe data from the local servers (Database Engines 1308 a) of the localhome network to the Master Cloud Computing (MCP) Home Network Nodes 1303b. The data is then transferred to the local visiting servers (DatabaseEngines 1308 b) of the local visiting access network 1313 b. The SMSnetworks are capable of providing Mobile Cloud Computing to perform anInterCloud Handover, an IntraCloud Handover, or a combination of both ona local, regional, national, and international level, as shown in FIG.3. For example, the user may travel from a local home network located inChicago to a visiting network located in New York such that the smartnetwork grants access to the user's data by establishing a peer-to-peerconnection between Regional Service Nodes 807 as shown in FIG. 8.Another example is that the SMS network can also be configured toestablish a peer-to-peer connection between International Service Nodes801 should the user travel from a local home network located in Chicago,USA and connects to a visiting network located in Europe to gain accessto his or her data on the local home access network.

Some of the features provided by the Mobile Cloud Computing includemaintenance, synchronization and aging of the user's data. The SMSnetwork will maintain the user's data at the visiting network as long asthe user's device is located within the visiting network and for apredetermined time after the end user has disconnected from the visitingaccess network which is referred to as the end user's data aginginterval that is defined by the end users as a policy managementparameter of the SMS network. The SMS network will also simultaneouslysynchronize any data updates performed on the visiting access networkwith the local home access network. If the user's device leaves thefirst visiting access network location and travels to another visitingaccess network location, the smart network can be configured to also“age” the user's data at the first visiting access network location andthe second visiting access network location while also simultaneouslysynchronizing the end user's data with the local home access network.The SMS network ages the data at the first visiting location by storingand maintaining it at that location for a predetermined time period. Ifthe user does not return to and access the first visiting locationwithin the predetermined time period, the SMS network automaticallyerases the user's data from the servers' of the first visiting network.The SMS network can be configured so that the user specifies the “aginginterval”, rather than the network. The user may stipulate apredetermined time period of the aging interval during the selection ofthe user's preference 909 as shown for example in FIG. 9. The SMSnetwork moves the data to the user's current network location after theuser sets his or her mobile cloud computing preferences in block 909.The local home access network can be defined as the master location sothat the currently visited access network synchronizes with the localhome access network. Then, the local home access network willsynchronize the user's data with any other previously visited locationswhere the SMS network has not yet aged out the user's data. All othercopies of the user's data stored on visited networks will eventuallyterminate after the expiration of the aging interval specified by theuser. In summary, the Mobile Cloud Computing of the present teachingsinteracts with conventional Cloud Computing to make the user's datamobile. By employing this feature, the SMS network guarantees that thequality of experience for accessing user's data is consistentlymaintained at the same QSL level regardless of the location where theuser accesses the SMS network. Thus, the SMS network is capable ofmaking the storage capabilities of the local servers appear mobile sothat the user's data appears mobile and travels with the user's devicethroughout the SMS network(s). Data storage can be performed by the SMSnetwork as continuous mobility devices or for discrete mobility devices.Continuously mobile data storage occurs when the data is continuouslymoving and stored within the network. Discretely mobile data storageoccurs when the data is moved among discrete locations within thenetwork and stored at these discrete locations.

Embodiments of the SMS network enable the decoupling of the end userfrom the end user's device so that the network delivers the requestedlevel of services to the end user regardless of the devices employed toconnect to the SMS network. The SMS network can use the verification andsecurity features of the GSI to monitor the end user's access to thenetwork. An example of this feature in connection with the applicationof Mobile Cloud Computing is that the user can travel from his or herhome network without the user's permanent device to a visiting networkand connect to the visiting network using a temporary device. The usercan use his or her GSI to verify and authenticate the user's identity torequest that the user's data be transferred from the home network to thevisiting network through Mobile Cloud Computing. This feature providesan extra level of security should someone steal the end user's permanentdevice and attempt to gain access to the end user's data or the network.Thus, using the GSI, the SMS network affords the ability to decouple theend user from any particular device. The SMS network enables the endusers to be authenticated on the network so they can be associated withpermanent devices, as well as temporary devices. The end user canconfigure his or her virtual network so that it is associated with andrecognized when one or more permanent devices connect to the networkafter the end user completes the authentication process. Furthermore,the decoupling aspect of the SMS network provides the end user theability to be temporarily associated with one or more temporary devicesonce the end user is authenticated on the network using the GSIfeatures. In summary, the SMS network can monitor and track the enduser's device, the GSI or a combination of both to grant the end useraccess to receive his or her defined services at any location orconnection point established within the network.

FIG. 14 illustrates the SMS networks Mobile Cloud Computing (MCP) DataManagement Protocol Algorithm which enables the end user's data tofollow the end user as he or she travels from one physical locationaccessing a SMS local access network to a second physical locationaccessing another SMS local access network which can be within the enduser's home SMS local access network or within a visiting SMS localaccess network. The MCP Data Management Protocol Algorithm is launchedwhen an end user appears within a physical location other then the enduser's home physical location. In Step 1401, this process is started byactivating the DataStore Handover Transaction process in Step 1402,which first identifies the current physical location of the end user'sdevice within the SMS network(s), which then determines whether anIntraCloud Handover or an InterCloud Handover in Step 1403 is required.If an IntraCloud Handover is required, the IntraCloud DataStore Handoverprocess in Step 1405 is activated to request a copy of the end user'scurrent database repository 1404 within the end user's Local CloudComputing (LCP) home location network caching database. Once the copy ofthe end user's current database repository is received from the enduser's LCP home location network caching database, the IntraCloudArchiving Database synchronization process in Step 1406 is activated toensure that all end user data is synchronized between the current enduser's local home caching network database 1404 and the end user'smaster home network archiving database 1411. Once this databaseverification in Step 1407 and update process in Step 1410 is completed,the visitor network service activation process in Step 1408 is activatedwhich allows the end user to retrieve, modify, and/or change any enduser's data repositories or data schema with the end user's LCP accessnetwork databases. Then, the MCP Data Management Protocol Algorithmterminates in Step 1409.

If an InterCloud Handover is required in Step 1403 rather than anIntraCloud DataStore Handover, the InterCloud DataStore Handover processin Step 1412 is activated to request network access securityverification from the end user's home MCP master network. If granted,the InterCloud DataStore Handover process in Step 1412 requests a copyof the end user's current database repository within the end user'sLocal Cloud Computing (LCP) home location network caching database. Oncethe copy of the end user's current database repository is received fromthe end user's LCP home location network caching database, theInterCloud Archiving Database synchronization process in Step 1413 isactivated to ensure that all end user data is synchronized between thecurrent end user's local home caching network database 1404 and the enduser's master home network archiving database 1411. Once this databaseverification in Step 1414 and update process in Step 1415 is completed,the visitor network service activation process in Step 1408 is activatedwhich allows the end user to retrieve, modify, and/or change any enduser's data repositories or data schema with the end user's LCP accessnetwork databases. Then, the MCP Data Management Protocol Algorithmterminates in Step 1409.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein.

It is intended that the specification and examples be considered asexemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention beingindicated by the following claims.

1. A system for providing multi-services communications, the systemcomprising: a communication network; a Hybrid Fiber-Wireless (HFW)network having policy management capabilities; at least one processorconnected to the HFW network; and at least one database connected to theat least one processor and the HFW network and for storing user-definedsets of rules and instructions to cause the processor to: receive theuser-defined sets of rules and instructions from a plurality of endusers via a plurality of end user devices; configure a virtual networkfor each end user within the communication network using the policymanagement capabilities based on the user-defined sets of rules andinstructions provided by each end user, wherein the user-defined sets ofrules and instructions define provisioning and delivery of resources andservices provided by the communication network to the end user; conductat least one communication session selected from the group consisting ofvoice, video, data, and multimedia; enable at least one end user of theplurality of end users to define the rules and instructions to establishat least one service level for delivering the services and resources tothe end user; wherein the at least one service level for delivering theservices and resources to the at least one end user is selected from aplurality of Quality of Experience (QoE) service levels, wherein eachQoE service level corresponds to one or more dimensions that control aperception of at least one service that the at least one end userexperiences when receiving the service and wherein the policy managementcapabilities enables the at least one end user to test features andcapabilities of the communication network associated with each QoEservice level for selecting a fee to pay for the at least one servicebased on the perception of the service to the at least one end user;calculate a Latency Quality Index (LQI) rating for measuring aperformance level of the communication network to determine the QoEservice level that the at least one end user experiences when engaged inthe at least one communication session; execute a service pricereduction program such that an owner of the HFW network is capable ofsubmitting an activation request to calculate an initial service pricingplan for the at least one end user based on initial profile datacaptured by a data collection agent to determine an initial value of theat least one end user and a base price for at least one service, the atleast one database stores the initial value of the at least one end userand the base price for the at least one service, and as the at least oneend user requests additional services, the service price reductionprogram, initially using the initial value of the at least one end user,iteratively recalculates a current value of the at least one end userbased on a number of transaction requests submitted by the at least oneend user to reduce the base price for the at least one service; provideshared resources and services of the communication network accessible byat least some of the end users having a common interest for sharing theresources and services so as to reduce cost of network services andresources paid by the at least some of the end users; execute a resourceallocation program to dynamically allocate network resources deliveredto the at least one end user per at least one transaction requested bythe at least one end user and conducted during the at least onecommunication session; receive a transfer request from the at least oneend user to transfer data from a first processor located at a firstlocation to a second processor located at a second location as the atleast one end user travels from the first location to the secondlocation, the at least one processor authorizes the transfer request ifthe user-defined sets of rules and instructions of the at least one enduser permit the transfer of the data, and the at least one processortransfers the data of the end user if the at least one processorauthorizes the transfer request; execute an e-commerce alias program toenable the at least one end user to create a service identity to conductan e-commerce transaction during the at least one communication sessionover the communication network without revealing a true identity of theat least one end user during negotiations of terms of the e-commercetransaction and revealing the true identity of the at least one end userwhen the at least one end user agrees to the terms of the e-commercetransaction, wherein the service identity comprises at least oneattribute known to the at least one end user and at least one attributeunknown to the at least one end user; enable at least one end user ofthe plurality of end users to dynamically submit a secure channelrequest to establish a secure channel to conduct the at least onesession between at least two end points within the communicationnetwork, the communication network opens the secured channel between anend point of the at least one end user and each end point of recipientsthat agrees to terms of service for establishing the secured channel,after the completion of the secured transaction, the communicationnetwork deletes and erases all data and information associated with theat least one session conducted over the secured channel from thecommunication network and all the end points of the recipients and theat least one end user.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the terms ofservice includes limitation of use terms such that the communicationnetwork prevents each recipient at each end point from performing one ormore of the functions consisting of modifying, manipulating, copying,printing, transmitting, transferring, hyperlinking, downloading, saving,and printing any data and information associated with the at least onesession at one or more devices of at least one recipient in accordancewith the terms of service agreed upon by each recipient before thecommunication network establish the secure channel.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein one of the user-defined sets of rules and instructions,set by the at least one end user, is an expiration time durationspecifying when the communication network erases all data andinformation associated with the at least one session.
 4. A methodproviding multi-services within a communication network, the methodcomprising: storing, in a database of a computer, user-defined sets ofrules and instructions for providing multi-services to end user devicesconnected to a communication network comprising a Hybrid Fiber-Wireless(HFW) network having policy management capabilities; receiving, at oneor more processors, the user-defined sets of rules and instructions froma plurality of end users via a plurality of end user devices, andconfiguring a virtual network for each end user within the communicationnetwork using the policy management capabilities based on theuser-defined sets of rules and instructions provided by each end user,wherein the user-defined sets of rules and instructions defineprovisioning and delivery of resources and services provided by thecommunication network to the end user conducting at least onecommunication session selected from the group consisting of voice,video, data, and multimedia; defining, by at least one end user of theplurality of end users, the rules and instructions to establish at leastone service level for delivering the services and resources to the enduser; wherein the at least one service level for delivering the servicesand resources to the at least one end user is selected from a pluralityof Quality of Experience (QoE) service levels, wherein each QoE servicelevel corresponds to one or more dimensions that control a perception ofat least one service that the at least one end user experiences whenreceiving the service and wherein the policy management capabilitiesenables the at least one end user to test features and capabilities ofthe communication network associated with each QoE service level forselecting a fee to pay for the at least one service based on theperception of the service to the at least one end user; calculating aLatency Quality Index (LQI) rating for measuring a performance level ofthe communication network to determine the QoE service level that the atleast one end user experiences when engaged in the at least onecommunication session; executing a service price reduction program suchthat an owner of the HFW network is capable of submitting an activationrequest to calculate an initial service pricing plan for the at leastone end user based on initial profile data captured by a data collectionagent to determine an initial value of the at least one end user and abase price for at least one service, the at least one database storesthe initial value of the at least one end user and the base price forthe at least one service, and as the at least one end user requestsadditional services, the service price reduction program, initiallyusing the initial value of the at least one end user, iterativelyrecalculates a current value of the at least one end user based on anumber of transaction requests submitted by the at least one end user toreduce the base price for the at least one service; providing sharedresources and services of the communication network accessible by atleast some of the end users having a common interest for sharing theresources and services so as to reduce cost of network services andresources paid by the at least some of the end users; executing aresource allocation program to dynamically allocate network resourcesdelivered to the at least one end user per at least one transactionrequested by the at least one end user and conducted during the at leastone communication session; receiving a transfer request from the atleast one end user to transfer data from a first processor located at afirst location to a second processor located at a second location as theat least one end user travels from the first location to the secondlocation, the first processor authorizes the transfer request if theuser-defined sets of rules and instructions of the at least one end userpermit the transfer of the data, and the first processor transfers thedata of the end user to the second processor if the first processorauthorizes the transfer request; executing an e-commerce alias programto enable the at least one end user to create a service identity toconduct an e-commerce transaction during the at least one communicationsession over the communication network without revealing a true identityof the at least one end user during negotiations of terms of thee-commerce transaction and revealing the true identity of the at leastone end user when the at least one end user agrees to the terms of thee-commerce transaction, wherein the service identity comprises at leastone attribute known to the at least one end user and at least oneattribute unknown to the at least one end user; dynamically submitting,by at least one end user of the plurality of end users, a secure channelrequest to establish a secure channel to conduct the at least onesession between at least two end points within the communicationnetwork, the communication network opens the secured channel between anend point of the at least one end user and each end point of recipientsthat agrees to terms of service for establishing the secured channel,and after the completion of the secured transaction, deleting anderasing, by the communication network, all data and informationassociated with the at least one session conducted over the securedchannel from the communication network and all the end points of therecipients and the at least one end user.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the terms of service includes limitation of use terms such thatthe communication network prevents each recipient at each end point fromperforming one or more of the functions consisting of modifying,manipulating, copying, printing, transmitting, transferring,hyperlinking, downloading, saving, and printing any data and informationassociated with the at least one session at one or more devices of atleast one recipient in accordance with the terms of service agreed uponby each recipient before the communication network establish the securechannel.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein one of the user-defined setsof rules and instructions, set by the at least one end user, is anexpiration time duration specifying when the communication networkerases all data and information associated with the at least onesession.
 7. An apparatus for providing services and resources using aSmart Multi-Services (SMS) communication network, comprising: a HybridFiber-Wireless (HFW) network having policy management capabilities; atleast one processor connected to the HFW network; and at least onedatabase connected to the at least one processor and the HFW network andfor storing user-defined sets of rules and instructions to cause theprocessor to: receive the user-defined sets of rules and instructionsfrom a plurality of end users via a plurality of end user devices;configure a virtual network for each end user within the communicationnetwork using the policy management capabilities based on theuser-defined sets of rules and instructions provided by each end user,wherein the user-defined sets of rules and instructions defineprovisioning and delivery of resources and services provided by thecommunication network to the end user; to conduct at least onecommunication session selected from the group consisting of voice,video, data, and multimedia; to enable at least one end user of theplurality of end users to define the rules and instructions to establishat least one service level for delivering the services and resources tothe end user; wherein the at least one service level for delivering theservices and resources to the at least one end user is selected from aplurality of Quality of Experience (QoE) service levels, wherein eachQoE service level corresponds to one or more dimensions that control aperception of at least one service that the at least one end userexperiences when receiving the service and wherein the policy managementcapabilities enables the at least one end user to test features andcapabilities of the communication network associated with each QoEservice level for selecting a fee to pay for the at least one servicebased on the perception of the service to the at least one end user; tocalculate a Latency Quality Index (LQI) rating for measuring aperformance level of the communication network to determine the QoEservice level that the at least one end user experiences when engaged inthe at least one communication session; to execute a service pricereduction program such that an owner of the HFW network is capable ofsubmitting an activation request to calculate an initial service pricingplan for the at least one end user based on initial profile datacaptured by a data collection agent to determine an initial value of theat least one end user and a base price for at least one service, the atleast one database stores the initial value of the at least one end userand the base price for the at least one service, and as the at least oneend user requests additional services, the service price reductionprogram, initially using the initial value of the at least one end user,iteratively recalculates a current value of the at least one end userbased on a number of transaction requests submitted by the at least oneend user to reduce the base price for the at least one service; toprovide shared resources and services of the communication networkaccessible by at least some of the end users having a common interestfor sharing the resources and services so as to reduce cost of networkservices and resources paid by the at least some of the end users; toexecute a resource allocation program to dynamically allocate networkresources delivered to the at least one end user per at least onetransaction requested by the at least one end user and conducted duringthe at least one communication session; to receive a transfer requestfrom the at least one end user to transfer data from a first processorlocated at a first location to a second processor located at a secondlocation as the at least one end user travels from the first location tothe second location, the at least one processor authorizes the transferrequest if the user-defined sets of rules and instructions of the atleast one end user permit the transfer of the data, and the at least oneprocessor transfers the data of the end user if the at least oneprocessor authorizes the transfer request; to execute an e-commercealias program to enable the at least one end user to create a serviceidentity to conduct an e-commerce transaction during the at least onecommunication session over the communication network without revealing atrue identity of the at least one end user during negotiations of termsof the e-commerce transaction and revealing the true identity of the atleast one end user when the at least one end user agrees to the terms ofthe e-commerce transaction, wherein the service identity comprises atleast one attribute known to the at least one end user and at least oneattribute unknown to the at least one end user; to enable the at leastone end user to dynamically submit a secure channel request to establisha secure channel to conduct the at least one session between at leasttwo end points within the communication network; in response to thesecure channel request, to transmit a terms of service agreement torecipients of each end points to obtain consent from each recipient toterms and conditions defined within the terms of service agreements toestablish the secure channel; and to issue at least one instruction tothe communication network to open the secured channel between an endpoint of the at least one end user and each end point of the recipientsthat agree to terms of service for establishing the secured channel,after the completion of the secured transaction, the communicationnetwork deletes and erases all data and information associated with theat least one session conducted over the secured channel from thecommunication network and all the end points of the recipients and theat least one end user.
 8. The communication network of claim 7, whereinthe plurality of QoE service levels comprise at least one predefinedservice level and a customized service level and wherein the one or moredimensions comprise at least one of a mobility dimension, an audiodimension, a visual dimension, and a velocity dimension.
 9. Thecommunication network of claim 7, wherein the terms of service includeslimitation of use terms such that the communication network preventseach recipient at each end point from performing one or more of thefunctions consisting of modifying, manipulating, copying, printing,transmitting, transferring, hyperlinking, downloading, saving, andprinting any data and information associated with the at least onesession at one or more devices of at least one recipient in accordancewith the terms of service agreed upon by each recipient before thecommunication network establish the secure channel.
 10. Thecommunication network of claim 9, wherein one of the user-defined setsof rules and instructions, set by the at least one end user, is anexpiration time duration specifying when the communication networkerases all data and information associated with the at least onesession.
 11. The communication network of claim 7, wherein the policymanagement capabilities of the communication network enable the at leastone end user to request and receive delivery of the resources andservices to the at least one end user at another device different thanthe end user device according to requirements of the at least oneservice level.
 12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containinginstructions for performing a method for providing services andresources using a Smart Multi-Services (SMS) communication network, themethod comprising: receiving at, one or more processors, user-definedsets of rules and instructions from a plurality of end users via aplurality of end user devices, and storing user-defined sets of rulesand instructions to cause at least one processor of the one or moreprocessors to: configure a virtual network for each end user within thecommunication network using policy management capabilities based on theuser-defined sets of rules and instructions provided by each end user,wherein the user-defined sets of rules and instructions defineprovisioning and delivery of resources and services provided by thecommunication network to the end user; to conduct at least onecommunication session selected from the group consisting of voice,video, data, and multimedia; to enable at least one end user of theplurality of end users to define the rules and instructions to establishat least one service level for delivering the services and resources tothe end user; wherein the at least one service level for delivering theservices and resources to the at least one end user is selected from aplurality of Quality of Experience (QoE) service levels, wherein eachQoE service level corresponds to one or more dimensions that control aperception of at least one service that the at least one end userexperiences when receiving the service and wherein the policy managementcapabilities enables the at least one end user to test features andcapabilities of the communication network associated with each QoEservice level for selecting a fee to pay for the at least one servicebased on the perception of the service to the at least one end user; tocalculate a Latency Quality Index (LQI) rating for measuring aperformance level of the communication network to determine the QoEservice level that the at least one end user experiences when engaged inthe at least one communication session; to execute a service pricereduction program such that an owner of the HFW network is capable ofsubmitting an activation request to calculate an initial service pricingplan for the at least one end user based on initial profile datacaptured by a data collection agent to determine an initial value of theat least one end user and a base price for at least one service, the atleast one database stores the initial value of the at least one end userand the base price for the at least one service, and as the at least oneend user requests additional services, the service price reductionprogram, initially using the initial value of the at least one end user,iteratively recalculates a current value of the at least one end userbased on a number of transaction requests submitted by the at least oneend user to reduce the base price for the at least one service; toprovide shared resources and services of the communication networkaccessible by at least some of the end users having a common interestfor sharing the resources and services so as to reduce cost of networkservices and resources paid by the at least some of the end users; toexecute a resource allocation program to dynamically allocate networkresources delivered to the at least one end user per at least onetransaction requested by the at least one end user and conducted duringthe at least one communication session; to receive a transfer requestfrom the at least one end user to transfer data from a first processorlocated at a first location to a second processor located at a secondlocation as the at least one end user travels from the first location tothe second location, the first processor authorizes the transfer requestif the user-defined sets of rules and instructions of the at least oneend user permit the transfer of the data, and the first processortransfers the data of the end user to the second processor if the firstprocessor authorizes the transfer request; to execute an e-commercealias program to enable the at least one end user to create a serviceidentity to conduct an e-commerce transaction during the at least onecommunication session over the communication network without revealing atrue identity of the at least one end user during negotiations of termsof the e-commerce transaction and revealing the true identity of the atleast one end user when the at least one end user agrees to the terms ofthe e-commerce transaction, wherein the service identity comprises atleast one attribute known to the at least one end user and at least oneattribute unknown to the at least one end user; to enable the at leastone end user to dynamically submit a secure channel request to establisha secure channel to conduct the at least one session between at leasttwo end points within the communication network; in response to thesecure channel request, to transmit a terms of service agreement torecipients of each end points to obtain consent from each recipient toterms and conditions defined within the terms of service agreements toestablish the secure channel; and to issue at least one instruction tothe communication network to open the secured channel between an endpoint of the at least one end user and each end point of the recipientsthat agree to terms of service for establishing the secured channel,after the completion of the secured transaction, the communicationnetwork deletes and erases all data and information associated with theat least one session conducted over the secured channel from thecommunication network and all the end points of the recipients and theat least one end user.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the pluralityof QoE service levels comprise at least one predefined service level anda customized service level and wherein the one or more dimensionscomprise at least one of a mobility dimension, an audio dimension, avisual dimension, and a velocity dimension.
 14. The method of claim 12,wherein the terms of service includes limitation of use terms such thatthe communication network prevents each recipient at each end point fromperforming one or more of the functions consisting of modifying,manipulating, copying, printing, transmitting, transferring,hyperlinking, downloading, saving, and printing any data and informationassociated with the at least one session at one or more devices of atleast one recipient in accordance with the terms of service agreed uponby each recipient before the communication network established thesecure channel.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein one of theuser-defined sets of rules and instructions, set by the at least one enduser, is an expiration time duration specifying when the communicationnetwork erases all data and information associated with the at least onesession.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the policy managementcapabilities of the communication network enable the at least one enduser to request and receive delivery of the resources and services tothe at least one end user at another device different than the end userdevice according to requirements of the at least one service level.